eICU - Anyone using this?

Thanks for the links; they were a big help.

I ended up loving VISICU, specially working nights it was very helpful. Finish the frustrations of waiting long minutes sometime for 1 hour or... forever for callbacks. Pick up the direct line and ask for rx for blood cx, Tylenol, review EKGs, K replacements, sedations... Our intensivists with VISICU were the best! But I regret to say that Buffalo NY had to let go VISICU due to "bad managemnent", so we were told.

I am a traveling nurse and have just completed a contract at Swedish Hospital Seattle,Wa. They have an EICU program that is just starting to work. Personally I liked it working nights it is refreshing to have a doctor to talk to who #1 is awake, #2 can actually see not only the monitor but also the patient. and can actually know what is going on. There is some resistance from some of the nurses who take it as criticism when they call with questions about the care the patient is recieving... All in all I think it will benefit the patients and the nurses. By the way I am and experienced ICU nurse of more than 30 years..

We old dogs appreciate new tricks no matter what they say.

I think there will be legal issues involved with this as it proceeds. If you have 2 nurses from different arenas managing a patient, any disagreement is going to yield a decision that can be contested.

Look at it from 2 potential defense questions: 1. Why DIDN'T you do what the eICU nurse suggested? Or, Why DID you do what the eICU nurse suggested, if you had reservations about it?

If there are two potential courses of action being suggested, if you make the wrong choice EITHER by going with your gut or going with the eICU, it will still make you liable. And the issue becomes much more at stake than what a 'prudent' nurse would do. It becomes: what the other nurse would have done.

One good million dollar lawsuit, and the cost of the eICU becomes prohibitive.

In our current legal environment, it's an idea ahead of its time.

~faith,

Timothy.

I think there will be legal issues involved with this as it proceeds. If you have 2 nurses from different arenas managing a patient, any disagreement is going to yield a decision that can be contested.

Look at it from 2 potential defense questions: 1. Why DIDN'T you do what the eICU nurse suggested? Or, Why DID you do what the eICU nurse suggested, if you had reservations about it?

If there are two potential courses of action being suggested, if you make the wrong choice EITHER by going with your gut or going with the eICU, it will still make you liable. And the issue becomes much more at stake than what a 'prudent' nurse would do. It becomes: what the other nurse would have done.

One good million dollar lawsuit, and the cost of the eICU becomes prohibitive.

In our current legal environment, it's an idea ahead of its time.

~faith,

Timothy.

:monkeydance: I believe that those eICU are staffed with a physician. So if you disagree with the nurse, you could always ask for the MD to step in.

I guess I'm really ambivalent about the idea.

One of the things I LOVE about nursing is my autonomy. I would have a problem with an eICU nurse looking over my shoulder.

On the other hand, it would be a cool job to have working for an eICU.

~faith,

Timothy.

if you were asking about working in the eICU which I believe that you were saying something about hands on care vs monitor watching, as a nurse working in the eICU you would not have any hands on care, you would be sitting at a monitor screen looking at many many tele strips, at the eICU where I am at (I work in the ICU utilizing them not the eICU) the nurses have 4 computer screens I believe, can camera into the rooms pull up lab values, and have the tele's of all the patients they are assignedto watch, which I believe is somewhere around 25.

my personal experience the nurses on the other side of the monitor, not so helpful, the attendings (only staffed during night shift) very useful esp. when you're in a teaching hospital and are mostly dealing with interns on night shift.

We have a VICU which rocks. They help monitor our patients and let us know if there is a dysrhythmia.We cannot always watch the monitors.

I work on the EICU side of the camera. Absolutely love it. I know some nurses are hesitant thinking we are looking over their shoulders. I can assure you...as nurses ourselves, we are all on the same team. At our facility we have 6 screens and it can get pretty busy keeping up with everything. I think the biggest thing to remember for those of you at the bedside is this: We are there to assist you and help you in whatever way we can. For us, if we can help you get that order you need or if you have a "feeling" something isn't right and no one will listen to you...please...bend our ear. So many times, nurses have a gut feeling and notice things that physicians disregard. The EICU can help. We don't want to take over and we don't claim to know more than anyone else, we just use different tools, like our software, that alerts us of various trends. These trends can sometimes give insight to problems that otherwise would go undetected for a longer period of time because independent of each other, they seem insignificant. EICU is all about collaboration. So many times I've called the unit saying...ok...here's what I'm seeing, what are you seeing? What's your physician saying? Ok...let me talk to my doc and see what he thinks. Through collaboration, I have seen major events headed off before they explode into tragic outcomes.