Contact: Mark Foust
Phone: 327-3317

HCA Richmond Hospital Introduces eICU® WATCH

Wide Area Treatment & Communication Hub System for Critical Care Patients

Richmond, VA, November 15, 2004 - HCA Richmond Hospitals have added an extra layer of care for Intensive Care Unit patients with a new, real-time audio and video monitoring system.  The WATCH (Wide Area Treatment & Communications Hub) team of critical care specialists, including physicians known as Intensivists, critical care nurses and data managers, monitors from one central location ICU patients at three different hospitals. The team has secure access to the patient's medical records to review real-time vital signs, test results, lab reports, medications, X-rays, CT/MRI scans, angioplasty and ultrasound images.

HCA Richmond Hospitals include Henrico Doctors' Hospital, CJW Medical Center, Retreat Hospital and John Randolph Medical Center.

"This cutting-edge technology allows us to keep an even closer eye on our critically ill patients. This electronic monitoring system has been documented to result in shorter hospital stays for critically ill patients and better outcomes," said Glenn Giessel, M.D., the Medical Director for eICU(r) WATCH. "We expect this system to improve the quality of care already provided by our in-hospital staff by saving lives, reducing complications and lowering the overall costs of care."

"The eICU Watch will have a positive impact on two of HCA's top priorities - patient safety and clinical outcomes," said Margaret Lewis, president of HCA's Central Atlantic Division. "This technology is a powerful tool that will benefit our patients, medical staff and nurses alike."

Traditionally, if ICU nurses detect a potential problem in the middle of the night, they must decide if and when to alert an on-call physician. With eICU WATCH, a critical care Intensivist is available, awake and alert from 6:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. seven days a week, armed with the most up-to-date vital signs and laboratory data on the patient, as well as the patient's history.

The staff at the WATCH command center make their virtual rounds on patients via a small, digital camera and software located in the patient's room. The camera sends video and electronic information to the off-site command center, where the staff uses video monitors and computers to observe the patient. Two-way audio communication via speakers allows the team to talk with the patient and the on-site, bedside caregivers to make the best clinical decisions possible. Early warning software alerts the team to potential problems so that the eICU physicians can work with the hospital's in-house staff to intervene quickly when problems arise. Patients are grouped according to acuity and coded by color, with red (the sickest patients) being monitored every hour, yellow every two hours, and green every four hours.

The new system went live on November 2 from its central location at Henrico Doctors' Hospital-Parham. It monitors 13 beds at Retreat Hospital, 12 beds at CJW Medical Center's Chippenham Campus, and 10 beds at Henrico Doctors' Hospital-Forest for a total of 35 beds throughout the Richmond area. Beds will be added at John Randolph Medical Center and CJW Johnston-Willis in the near future.

HCA is the first hospital system to implement the eICU technology in the Richmond area. While new technology will never replace human interaction, the eICU system allows for optimal communication throughout the evening and nighttime hours as patients require immediate care. HCA has contracted with Baltimore, MD-based VISICU Inc. to use the eICU system. Two intensivist physicians from Johns Hopkins Hospital with direct ICU experience founded VISICU, Inc. in 1998.