Intervention includes health information technology, overnight remote intensivist coverage
TUESDAY, April 13 (HealthDay News) -- The use of health information technology along with remote intensivist coverage is associated with reduced mortality and ventilator use in critically ill patients, according to research published in the April 12 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Matthew McCambridge, M.D., of the Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pa., and colleagues analyzed data from 954 control patients who were admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) and received care before the implementation of a coordinated health information technology bundle with nighttime remote intensivist coverage (HITB-RIC), and 959 patients who received care afterward.
The researchers found that mortality in the control and intervention groups was 21.4 and 14.7 percent, respectively. The mortality in the intervention group was 75.8 percent of the value predicted by Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation IV hospital mortality equations, which was 25.9 percent lower compared with the control group. Patients in the intervention group had less use of mechanical ventilation after controlling for illness severity and body-system diagnosis category.
"We believe the HITB-RIC model represents a significant advancement in the quality of critical care medicine. Although there are still unanswered questions, especially concerning the most efficient use of these technologies, our study suggests that implementing HITB-RIC may be a viable strategy to improve access to high-quality ICU care in the setting of an inadequate supply of qualified intensivists," the authors conclude.
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