High-tech hospital

Medical teamwork comes in form of eICU

Registered nurse Kristy Wood and volunteer Donnie Clay demonstrate using the video link connecting a patient room at White County Medical Center in Searcy with eICU critical-care specialists in Little Rock.
Registered nurse Kristy Wood and volunteer Donnie Clay demonstrate using the video link connecting a patient room at White County Medical Center in Searcy with eICU critical-care specialists in Little Rock.

Patients in White County Medical Center’s critical-care unit may notice new screens in their rooms, but those devices are not for watching television.

WCMC recently installed eICU — or electronic intensive-care unit — ­devices in six of the 10 critical-care-unit rooms, in addition to a mobile unit that can be moved from room to room. The eICU gives the hospital’s nurses and physicians the ability to bring other doctors into conversations about their patients through a two-way video monitoring system.

The medical center in Searcy is working with Baptist Health eICU Care Services in order to provide this service. From their location in Little Rock, Baptist Health critical-care specialists will be available through the video monitoring system 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide support, advice and second opinions.

“We can call and ask an opinion or ask if they know about a specific issue,” said Vicki Dahlem, director of the critical-care unit. “It’s a good second person to be helping, both nursing- and physician-wise.”

Baptist Health has been implementing eICU units for nine years, and Dahlem said she and the nurses in the critical-care unit are excited about the new technology now available at WCMC.

Viki Saffold with Baptist Health said she and others in eICU Care Services are able to run codes, read charts and even see patients clearly enough to see their eyes dilate.

“We try to be a backup for nurses at the bedside,” she said. “We don’t replace the nurses by any means. We don’t replace the doctors. But if the nurses find themselves in a pinch and they need help, we try to be of service in any way that we can.”

With a punch of a button, a camera next to the screen in the room will swivel toward the bed, and a video image of a doctor or nurse from Baptist Health will be visible in the room.

“Sometimes we’re called in to watch a patient when the nurse needs to be away from the bedside and the patient is trying to climb out of bed,” Saffold said. “However we can make it safer for the patient, that’s what our goal is.”

Dahlem said WCMC has been working on implementing the eICU for months, and nurses have already seen its benefit in the few weeks the devices have been available.

“The technology is so good that when they screen in, they can actually look at what the IV pump is doing, all the little numbers,” she said. “They can basically see anything we see. They can see the medical record. They can see all the documentation. They can see all the vital signs minute by minute, and they have special technology that will look at those things and trend them.”

After watching the patients and examining their vitals, the doctors can give suggestions and take notes for the on-site nurses during an emergency situation. It is a new form of medical teamwork in order to bring better care to patients, and Saffold said technology is continuing to make its mark in the medical field.

“This is the way health care is going,” Saffold said. “In all fields, there is some kind of advanced technology that is trying to improve health care throughout the state. We’re kind of leading the charge in that area. It’s been a work in progress, but we’re finding ways to be of service to the local bedside nurse and the patients, hoping that the patient can stay in their local town instead of being sent to a bigger hospital. It’s always easier on the patient and the family if that can be accomplished.”

Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.

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