How can the sickest patients in the hospital be cared for remotely?
While it may sound heretical, critically ill patients can be cared for quite effectively in this manner. Clinical decisions in the ICU are often based on a large and continuous stream of data (physiologic, laboratory, radiographic, etc) and these data can be communicated electronically in real time. Informed caregivers can then perform the cognitive decision-making remotely. Remote management of ICU patients has been evaluated in two clinical studies, both demonstrating a 25 percent to 30 percent reduction in hospital mortality for ICU patients.
