LAUSR

INTRODUCTION: In the COVID-19 pandemic, novel solutions were desperately needed to protect healthcare workers while continuing essential bedside care, multiprofessional rounds, specialist consultation, and family visitation A strategy was implemented to harness the power of an established Tele ICU program to mitigate patient contact isolation using expanded access for bedside providers and family to the Tele ICU software and cameras The objective of this study was to quantify the use and added value of this expanded access program METHODS: Data from the BJC Healthcare system Tele ICU program covering 13 ICUs in 9 hospitals was compiled from the Philips eICU Total Data Access Kit (TDAK) database, and video usage by Tele ICU and bedside providers was quantified over the period March 12 through June 30, 2020 A separate query of the Tele ICU Caregility database was done to estimate family visits Instances where direct patient contact was replaced with a video session were estimated from these data Supply chain costs for personal protective equipment (PPE) were used to estimate PPE cost savings and added PPE availability RESULTS: 78,766 individual video sessions totaling 3,713 hours were identified in the TDAK database including 72,053 sessions (1625 hours, 43 8%) attributed to Tele ICU staff and 6,713 sessions (2088 hours, 56 2%) attributed to bedside staff An additional 2240 family video sessions totaling 140 hours were identified in the Caregility database Together, the 8,953 instances in which Tele ICU video sessions were used in lieu of direct exposure of bedside providers or family to COVID patients resulted in an estimated cost savings of $24,000 related to decreased PPE use, and a substantial increase in the supply of PPE CONCLUSIONS: This report highlights an unforeseen benefit of Tele ICU in the COVID pandemic resulting from our expanded access strategy allowing virtual visits between patients and bedside providers and their families In addition to savings related to less PPE use, there was increased PPE availability and reduced exposure of clinicians and family to infected patients While difficult to quantify, decreased transmission of the disease to staff and minimizing workforce loss are additional potential benefits