Illinois Telehealth Initiatives Focus On Audio-Visual Monitoring
By Julia Ernst, contributing writer
A number of facilities in the state are utilizing remote patient monitoring to improve patient outcomes.
The results of a pilot study at a Presence Health facility in Bolingbrook, IL showing remote patient monitoring is effective for preventing falls is one of several developments in technological healthcare initiatives in Illinois.
In the first of several developments, the study at Presence Covenant Medical Center utilized remote patient monitoring for individuals who were identified as being at high risk for falls. Voice and video technology allows medical staff at the facility to identify patients who are attempting to get out of bed unattended and advise them to stay in bed until a nurse arrives to provide assistance.
In a little more than two months (69 days), remote monitoring prevented 15 patient falls. Overall, the facility reduced the number of patient falls from one year to the next. The results of the study at Covenant worked effectively enough that the program is being considered at other hospitals in the Presence health system.
The second telehealth initiative in Illinois took place at Covenant and United Samaritans, another Presence Health facility. The hospitals implemented an audio-visual system to connect vascular neurologists with emergency room doctors to evaluate patients who have had a stroke and expedite treatment. This system is similar to Covenant’s system for monitoring patients at high risk for falls. The first stroke patient at United Samaritans to be assessed this way was started on medication to dissolve clots within 12 minutes of arriving at the hospital.
Two other hospitals in Illinois are noted for technological healthcare initiatives. At Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, specialists connect with patients in rural communities via two-way voice and video communications. Carle Foundation Hospital monitors its own hospital patients in-house, including video monitoring, the news release notes.
Remote monitoring also began this month at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Mattoon for the facility’s critical care patients. The news release on these telehealth initiatives notes that the service at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center uses critical care-trained doctors and nurses to monitor patients' vital signs and test results and communicate with in-hospital staff.
SOURCE: The News-Gazette