Machine-learning algorithms and video cameras have been established by Houston Methodist Hospital to set up a clinical command center that will enable clinicians to provide remote care for COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care units, according to a report published by Wall Street Journal.
Methodist’s ICU RPM Implementation
The tech-powered command center was launched by the hospital in March to prevent clinicians from contracting COVID-19, in addition to simultaneously caring for an increased number of patients. Houston Methodist Chief Innovation Officer, Roberta Schwartz, PhD speaking to the publication said that the system will allow clinicians to monitor about 120 patient beds.
Dr. Schwartz explained that in a virtual ICU setting they are able to keep a lot of their doctors outside the rooms, who otherwise would have had to go into the rooms, elaborating, he told the publication that one clinician can monitor dozens of patients, watching into the computer screens located in the command center.
Data from ventilators, electrocardiogram machines, and oxygen pumps, besides patient’s electronic medical records, and vital signs results can be accessed by the clinicians at the clinical command center, which are monitored on an analytics platform.
The status of the ICU patients can be determined through machine-learning algorithms, and in accordance the data is analysed. The algorithms can identify a patient that needs to be closely monitored, the command center’s computer screen automatically turns red in such an eventuality.
