SCCM Resource Library-COVID-19 Patient Assessed for Lung Transplant via Tele-Critical Care

Pdf Summary

The document highlights the critical role of tele-critical care during the COVID-19 pandemic, illustrated through the story of a young COVID-19 patient with severe respiratory failure. Initially treated at a small community hospital in California with limited resources, the patient, in his 30s, was struggling on ventilator support and faced high mortality risk. Through telemedicine, particularly tele-critical care, the patient's treatment team managed his condition remotely. Despite nearly experiencing cardiac arrest during transport, he was successfully transferred to a higher-level care center for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Ultimately, his condition improved and enabled a lung transplant, allowing him to return home to his family—a success aided by tele-critical care.<br /><br />The narrative underscores how the pandemic accelerated tele-critical care adoption, enabling clinicians to provide specialized ICU care remotely, adapting flexibilities in regulatory policies by U.S. health authorities. These changes allowed the use of various technology platforms for telehealth and expanded Medicare coverage for remote critical care services. The article calls for maintaining these flexible policies post-pandemic to continue benefiting patient care, especially in community hospitals lacking specialized resources. It emphasizes tele-critical care's capacity to bring ICU-level care nationwide and relieve patients from traveling outside their communities for advanced treatment, thus highlighting its importance even as the COVID-19 crisis recedes. This approach has proven essential, particularly amidst clinician shortages and increasing healthcare demands, representing a significant advancement in how critical care is delivered.

Asset Subtitle

Infection, Professional Development and Education, 2022, 0:07:37

Asset Caption

"This article was first published in the Fall 2022 issue of Critical Connections.

One small positive aspect of the pandemic has been the acceleration of tele-critical care and its implementation across the United States. Critical care professionals have been able to bring excellent ICU care to many more people than would otherwise have been possible through tele-critical care.

Critical Connections, the critical care industry's only magazine, provides information on cutting-edge topics in critical care useful to the entire multiprofessional team."

Meta Tag

Content Type Article

Knowledge Area Infection

Knowledge Area Professional Development and Education

Knowledge Level Intermediate

Knowledge Level Advanced

Membership Level Associate

Membership Level Professional

Membership Level Select

Tag COVID-19

Tag Telemedicine eICU

Year 2022

Keywords

tele-critical care

COVID-19 pandemic

remote ICU care

telemedicine

community hospitals

regulatory policies

Medicare coverage

lung transplant

healthcare demands

clinician shortages

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