Syosset Hospital eICU Program Expands Services to Critically-Ill Patients

Patients in the intensive care unit at Syosset Hospital will be more closely monitored and have access to a wide network of caregivers now that the hospital’s unit is linked in to the North Shore-LIJ Health System’s eICU system based at the health system’s Center for Emergency Medical Services.

The eICU program uses bi-directional audio/video technology and real-time and retrospective reporting tools to help care for patients along with a hospital’s staff. A high resolution camera located in the patient’s room, along with a video monitor showing the remote clinicians, provides two-way video communications, when necessary. Vital signs and cardiac rhythms will be constantly monitored. There is also a microphone and speaker in the patient’s room to allow direct conversation between the eICU team, the bedside care providers and the patient or family.

The eICU program enables health care professionals at North Shore-LIJ’s eICU Telehealth Center, located in Syosset but not at the hospital itself, to remotely support the bedside staff in providing around-the-clock care for critically ill patients. Because an intensivist or other bedside ICU staff member can only be in one place at a time, the eICU team can help watch over the entire population of critical care patients. The program’s telehealth center is staffed by dedicated critical care nurses, intensivists and support associates, as well as a medical director and operations director.

“Having this tool of the eICU program in addition to our intensive care healthcare professionals will provide a greater level of care to our patients and allow families to rest assured that their loved ones are constantly being monitored by specialists,” said Michael Fener, executive director of Plainview and Syosset hospitals. The system is already in place at Plainview Hospital.

In addition to the eICU program, the hospital has added more doctors to the staff, ensuring that the ICU is now staffed 24/7 with board-certified, critical-care physicians and critical-care-trained PAs.

Aside from Plainview and Syosset hospitals, The eICU program is also in use at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore and Franklin Hospital in Valley Stream. It is slated to be rolled out to other North Shore-LIJ Health System facilities in the future.