Apr 16 2013
The New York Times: Debating The Effectiveness Of Remotely Monitoring Intensive Care Patients
High in a Manhattan skyscraper near Grand Central Terminal on a recent Tuesday, 80 critically ill patients in intensive care units scattered from Georgia to New Jersey were being monitored, remotely, by a doctor scanning a dozen computer screens. ... More than a decade ago, this kind of tele-ICU command center was trumpeted by its creators as the new standard in critical care, a way to save lives and money ... Today, with the growth of such systems stalled at about 10 percent of ICU patients nationwide, and wildly contradictory studies about the results, no one can say with authority if, or under what circumstances, tele-ICUs deliver on their promises (Bernstein, 4/14).
This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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