Massachusetts General Hospital – Pediatric Intensive Care Using Video Conferencing

We hear a lot about patients and doctors using video conferencing and here’s an example in the hospital on how Partners Healthcare doctors have the ability to connect from home. The unit is right at the bedside, next to the patient, so if they need to have a visual look, they can via video. The attending physician gets to be included too, so everybody is in the same loop. BD

BOSTON – Patients being treated in the pediatric intensive care unit at MassGeneral Hospital for Children now have doctors virtually at their bedside 24/7 via a new home-to-hospital program.

MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) and the Partners Center for Connected Health, both part of Partners HealthCare in Boston, teamed up to launched the new program.

Six pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) physicians from MGHfC now have videoconferencing units in their homes. When they are needed for a consultation they videoconference in from home to a portable telemedicine station positioned at the patient's bedside. The attending physician can then see the patient, talk with clinicians on-site, personally evaluate the child's condition and make treatment decisions. Special cameras and scopes can also be attached to the hospital-based unit to allow for closer evaluation of the patient.