iCare Intensive Care

Banner Ironwood Medical Center is one of a select group of hospitals in the country to use an innovative monitoring tool to provide patients with an extra level of care and a quicker response to their needs.
 
Banner Health uses iCare to remotely monitor intensive care patients. Banner Ironwood is entering the next phase of this unique program by using this system for its medical/surgical patients as well.
 
How iCare works for ICU patients
iCare uses a two-way, audiovisual communication system that allows iCare Center staff to see and speak directly with the patient in a room. Patients can see and hear the nurse on a monitor located across from their beds.

ICare helps intensive care physicians, or intensivists, back-up nurses and bedside caregivers monitor ICU patient information 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Patients or their representatives are informed about iCare prior to admission and may opt out of monitoring – although most welcome the additional care.

A Virtual Doctor
Vital signs, patient information, laboratory data and x-rays from existing patient bedside monitoring devices are transmitted to an off-site iCare facility. Video cameras, monitors and microphones in patient rooms allow the iCare team and patient to see and speak directly with each other.

iCare physicians can be at the patient bedside virtually while working from a remote command center. ICare can pick up nearly imperceptible changes in a patient's condition or vital signs and head off life-threatening complications.

Immediate Response
When intensivists detect a problem, they can talk live to bedside caregivers via voice and video and discuss treatment and interventions. This timely response can often result in shorter hospital stays with fewer complications for the patient. The intensivist is not a replacement for any caregivers at the hospital, rather an additional practitioner who has access to the patient.

How iCare works for the Medical/Surgical patient
This same technology is used for medical/surgical patients to provide an extra level of care.