8- TELEMEDECINE & TELEHEALTH by PHARMAGEEK

By Craig M. Lilly, MD; John M. McLaughlin, PhD, MSPH; Huifang Zhao; Stephen P. Baker, MScPH, (abd); Shawn Cody, RN, MSN, MBA; Richard S. Irwin, MD; on behalf of for the UMass Memorial Critical Care Operations Group

Abstract 

Background  Few studies have evaluated both the overall effect of intensive care unit (ICU) telemedicine programs and the effect of individual components of the intervention on clinical outcomes.

Methods  The effects of non-randomized ICU telemedicine interventions on crude and adjusted mortality and length of stay (LOS) were measured. Additionally, individual intervention components related to process and setting of care, were evaluated for their association with mortality and LOS.

Results  Overall, 118,990 (11,558 control; 107,432 intervention) adult patients from 56 ICUs in 32 hospitals from 19 US health care systems were included. After statistical adjustment, hospital (HR=0.84, 95%CI: 0.78-0.89, p<.001) and ICU (HR=0.74, 95%CI: 0.68-0.79, p<.001) mortality in the ICU telemedicine intervention group was significantly better than that of controls. Moreover, adjusted hospital LOS was reduced, on average, by 0.5 (95%CI: 0.4-0.5), 1.0 (95%CI: 0.7-1.3), and 3.6 (95%CI: 2.3-4.8) days, and adjusted ICU LOS was reduced by 1.1 (95%CI: 0.8-1.4), 2.5 (95%CI: 1.6-3.4), and 4.5 (95%CI: 1.5-7.2) days among those who stayed in the ICU for ≥7, ≥14, and ≥30 days, respectively. Individual components of the interventions that were associated with lower mortality and/or reduced LOS included: i) intensivist case review within 1 hour of admission, ii) timely use of performance data, iii) adherence to ICU best practices, and iv) quicker alert response times.

Conclusions  ICU telemedicine interventions, specifically interventions that increase early intensivist case involvement, improve adherence to ICU best practices, reduce response times to alarms, and encourage the use of performance data were associated with lower mortality and LOS.

 

Via rob halkes