Sentara eICU marks 25 years as first remote patient monitoring system

On June 26, 2000, Sentara Health became the first hospital system in the U.S. to launch a fully functional remote monitoring system for ICU beds. The system, dubbed eICU, was designed as extra eyes and ears for doctors and nurses covering patient floors. Today, the eICU team of intensivist physicians and ICU nurses monitors 132 beds in seven Sentara hospitals, and actively participates in caring for the sickest, most fragile patients. Their tools include real-time patient telemetry, high-resolution cameras in ICU rooms and live conversation with providers at the bedside.

eICU is the granddaddy of virtual care, and the model for two other remote programs at Sentara. Virtual Nursing relieves bedside nurses of administrative duties, such as admissions, discharges and patient education, by providing live remote conversations between nurses and patients. Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) is for patients who need visual oversight and remote verbal intervention to prevent falls and self-harm.

Through direct observation and alarms triggered by changes in telemetry, the eICU team quickly identifies developing issues in volatile patients. They contact providers on the floors to speed interventions and consult live with providers in patient rooms.

“We provide collaboration and assistance with the on-site care teams,” said Brian King, MD, surgeon, intensivist, and Medical Director for Sentara eICU. “We don’t run the show in those ICUs, but we can help those teams by being extra eyes and ears when they can’t be in two places at once.”

The eICU control center at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital will soon relocate to a new Virtual Hub at the Sentara Independence outpatient campus in Virginia Beach.

eICU will share a floor in a former Sentara hospital with the Virtual Nursing and Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) teams. Three virtual services will share space in a 1970s building, built before the internet, when patient records were still on paper, and images on film.

Sentara Independence ceased being a hospital in 2011, but Sentara repurposed it into a robust outpatient campus with a 24-hour freestanding ER, a regional infusion center, sleep center, advanced imaging, cardiac rehab, physical therapy, laboratory and other services, and it will soon lead Sentara into the digital future of health care.