UCHealth's virtual sepsis monitoring program is now live at all 14 of its acute care hospitals.
The latest additions are Pueblo Colo.-based UCHealth Parkview Medical Center and Parkview Pueblo West (Colo.) Hospital, which merged with Aurora, Colo.-based UCHealth in late 2023.
UCHealth's Virtual Health Center operates the sepsis monitoring program, which launched in 2018 and is now one of the most advanced in the nation, according to a Sept. 16 news release.
Using artificial intelligence and remote monitoring, the program detects early signs of sepsis in hospitalized patients at risk of deterioration. Virtual clinicians monitor patients' vitals 24/7 and alert bed-side care teams when action is needed. Currently, the program monitors more than 2,000 patients daily.
"The key to improving safety for our patients is having AI algorithms and our VHC nurses and physicians constantly monitoring patients' vital signs over a long period of time. When a change in their temperature or blood pressure is identified, we can act immediately to alert the patient's bedside care team," Amy Hassell, BSN, RN, chief nursing officer at UCHealth's Virtual Health Center, said in a news release.
Since implementing the program, UCHealth has been detecting sepsis an average of two hours earlier. The average time to administer antibiotics has also decreased from 90 minutes to 27 minutes, with the system estimating that the program saved more than 1,000 lives last year alone.
Learn more about the program here.