SYDNEY, Sept. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Philips
(NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI), Macquarie University's MQ Health in
Sydney and Emory Healthcare in
Atlanta, Georgia (US), today
announced the launch of Australia's first - and only - remote
intensive care unit (eICU) monitoring program, to improve the
outcomes of high risk patients in most need of 'round-the-clock'
observation.
The partnership uses Philips' remote intensive care unit (eICU)
technology and will see Emory Healthcare intensivists and critical
care nurses based onsite at Sydney's MQ Health. MQ Health is the first
university-led integrated health campus in Australia, which brings together research and
clinical care. This care model enables the Sydney-based US clinicians to provide
continuous night-time critical care oversight to patients back in
the United States during daytime
hours, enabling the clinical team to be wide awake as opposed to
working at night.
Combining daytime coverage in Atlanta with night-time coverage from
Sydney provides around-the-clock
remote management of intensive care unit (ICU) patients by critical
care specialists, when adverse events are most likely to occur [1],
decreasing the risk of complications, shortening patients' length
of stay and saving lives [2].
Critical care units such as ICUs are high-tech units to care for
patients with severe and potentially life threatening conditions
that require constant and close monitoring. Philips' eICU program
is a comprehensive program that enables health care professionals
from a centralized eICU center to provide around-the-clock care for
critically ill patients. A study that compared patients receiving
usual ICU care with patients who received their ICU care from a
hospital that utilized the eICU program, showed that the latter
were 26% more likely to survive the ICU and discharged from the ICU
20% faster [3].
"We are operating in a time when connected health solutions can
truly make a difference in a patient's experience," said
Kevin Barrow, Managing Director
Philips Australia and New Zealand.
"We know that funding for critical care and critical access is not
growing despite increases in demand driven by population growth.
This program uses a proactive and continuous care model that enable
the right care to be delivered remotely at the right time."
Kevin Barrow added: "We aim to
transform the delivery of care to address growing clinician
shortages while improving patient outcomes. I am confident that the
application of these kinds of solutions will shape the future of
healthcare. If we are able to do this across continents we can
certainly replicate it locally, connecting Australian clinicians
with patients in need across regional and remote areas."
The solution allows for near real-time remote monitoring and
early intervention via advance audio-visual technology and
algorithms that can predict deteriorations in health, giving
clinicians the ability to communicate with local caregivers via
live video link, continuously monitor patient health, and advise on
the best course of treatment from wherever they are located.
This innovation means hospitals dealing with intensive care
physician and nurse shortages can provide patients with 24/7
clinical expertise and additional, proactive support to the
in-hospital care team. Bringing critical care closer to the
patient, remote monitoring removes the hurdle of geography and
reduces the burden of transporting patients. This will help
healthcare providers avoid transport associated costs, while
patients or their families won't have the stress of transferring to
higher level critical care centers.
"Thanks to our eICU program we can continuously monitor
Atlanta-based patients from MQ
Health in Sydney and support the
bedside team by recognising adverse physiology, making critical
diagnoses and intervening before those issues become significant
problems," said Dr Timothy Buchman,
Chief, Critical Care Service, Emory Healthcare. "In Australia,
these types of technologies also have far-reaching potential to
support care of rural and remote patients. Currently the optimal
medical treatment, in a stressful setting such as the ICU, can be
thousands of miles away. The introduction of
electronically-delivered specialist care has the potential to
standardise the quality of care between the CBD and the
countryside."
"Clinicians collaborating with industry on innovative
technological advances that lead to improvements in patient care is
the vision of Macquarie University and MQ Health," said Professor
Michael Parr, Clinical Program Head,
Critical Care and Anaesthetics at MQ Health.
"This partnership will provide the opportunity to build on North
American experience and improve intensive care outcomes for rural
and remote Australia, and showing
what is achievable through global collaboration."
References
[1] Gershengorn H.B. 2016. Nighttime
Extubations Are Associated With Worse Outcomes For U.S. Intensive
Care Unit Patients. Outstanding Epidemiology and Health Services
Research in Critical Care. Available online:
http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1164/ajrccm-conference.2016.193.1_MeetingAbstracts.A6150.
Date accessed: September 2016.
[2] Tang, Z. et al. 2007. Workflow in
intensive care unit remote monitoring: A time-and-motion study.
Critical Care Medicine: 35(9): 2057-2063. Available online:
http://interruptions.net/literature/Tang-CritCareMed07.pdf. Date
accessed: September 2016.
[3] A Multicenter Study of ICU
Telemedicine Reengineering of Adult Critical Care, Chest
Journal, March 2014. Available
online:
http://journal.publications.chestnet.org/article.aspx?articleid=1788059&resultClick=1.
Date accessed: September 2016.
For further information, please contact:
Steve Klink
Philips Group Communications
Tel.: +31 6 10888824
E-mail: steve.klink@philips.com
Albertine Schor
Philips Australia and New Zealand
Tel.: +61 427 915 643
E-mail: albertine.schor@philips.com
Anna Garcia
Issues and Media Manager Macquarie University
Tel: +61 2 9850 1051
E-mail: anna.garcia@mq.edu.au
About Royal
Philips
Royal Philips
(NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company
focused on improving people's health and enabling better
outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and
prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips
leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and
consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions.
Headquartered in the Netherlands,
the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided
therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as
well as in consumer health and home care.
Philips' health technology portfolio generated 2015 sales of
EUR 16.8 billion and employs
approximately 69,000 employees with sales and services in more than
100 countries. News about Philips can be found
at www.philips.com/newscenter.
About Emory Healthcare
Emory Healthcare is a
non-profit, charitable, academic health care system consisting of
six hospitals, multiple provider locations and more than 2,000
faculty, employed and network physicians in approximately 70
specialties. As the most comprehensive health care system in
Georgia and the only health
network in the state that brings together a full range of
hospitals, clinics and local practices, Emory Healthcare is
committed to providing patients and families with better, more
collaborative care for all of their medical needs. The Emory
Healthcare Network encompasses teams of providers at our locations
across Georgia, including
Emory University Hospital, Emory University Hospital Midtown, Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital,
Emory Rehabilitation Hospital and the Wesley Woods Center,
Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital and
Emory Johns Creek Hospital, the Emory Clinic, and the Emory
Healthcare Network physicians, ranging from primary to specialty
care providers. Through our integrated, collaborative care network,
we are dedicated to providing the standard of care that our
patients expect and deserve. For more information, visit
www.emoryhealthcare.org.
About MQ Health
- MQ Health is the new name for the Macquarie University Health
Sciences Centre, bringing together Macquarie University Hospital,
Macquarie University Clinical Associates, the Faculty of Medicine
and Health Sciences and clinical components of the Faculty of Human
Sciences. MQ Health realises the true and seamless integration of
patient-centric clinical care with life changing research and
distinctive educational programs. We believe that staying at the
frontier of great clinical care requires linkages to evidence based
research that transitions to the patient's bedside and a commitment
to developing future healthcare professionals. MQ Health has the
unique opportunity of integrating all three aspects under one
governance structure. For more information visit:
www.mqhealth.org.au.
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SOURCE Royal Philips; Emory
Healthcare