Houston Methodist Hospital used machine-learning algorithms and video cameras to create a clinical command center that allows clinicians to provide remote care for COVID-19 patients in intensive care units, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The hospital launched the tech-powered command center in March to help protect clinicians from contracting COVID-19 as well as increase the number of patients they are able to care for simultaneously. The system allows clinicians to monitor about 120 patient beds, Houston Methodist Chief Innovation Officer Roberta Schwartz, PhD, told the publication.
"In a virtual ICU setting we [are] able to keep a lot of our doctors outside the rooms that previously would have gone inside the rooms," Dr. Schwartz said, adding that one clinician can monitor dozens of patients by watching the computer screens in the command center.
The clinical command center pulls data from ventilators, electrocardiogram machines and oxygen pumps as well as the patients' electronic medical records and vital signs results for clinicians to monitor on an analytics platform. The machine-learning algorithms then analyze the data to determine the status of ICU patients. If the algorithms identify a patient who needs to be watched more closely, the command center's computer screen associated with the patient will turn red.