title: The future is now: implementation of a tele-intensivist program.
abstract: Based on overwhelming scientific evidence, The Leapfrog Group focused on 3 practices that have tremendous potential to save lives by reducing preventable mistakes in hospitals. The authors describe these practices and how they served as a driving force to create a "virtual ICU" within a Magnet hospital network. The effort combined services of a board-certified intensivist and technological advancements in telemedicine to ensure the delivery of high-quality care to all critically ill patients throughout the network. A computerized physician-order entry system, an electronic medication administration record, an electronic documentation system, and a remote ICU were the 4 programmatic phases necessary to realize the concept. The purpose of this article is to describe the process of planning and implementing the tele-intensivist program.
authors.affiliation: Medical/Surgical Intensive Care Unit, Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network, Allentown, PA 18105-1556, USA. anne.rabert@lvh.com
authors.forename: Anne S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Rabert
authors.forename: Mary Molly C
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Sebastian
mesh_terms: D003422:Critical Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D006284:Health Plan Implementation; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D010414:Pennsylvania; D012984:Software; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D014584:User-Computer Interface