Editor’s Note: This story is Part 1 of a 2-part series on virtual health. Part 2 covers the virtual hospitalist program.

An extra set of eyes can make a big difference, especially when that set of eyes is watching round-the-clock.

UCHealth’s Virtual Health Center combines state-of-the-art monitoring with a team of physicians, nurses and other professionals to provide an extra layer of care.

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“It’s a safety net, and helps us get patients care faster,” said Dr. Hemali Patel, a hospitalist at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and associate chief medical officer of virtual health.

Amy Hassell, chief nursing officer of UCHealth’s Virtual Health Center, stressed that virtual health supplements care provided by humans. “We’re here to augment the frontline teams’ work, not to replace anybody,” Hassell said.

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How does it work?

A patient’s vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and white blood cell count are monitored with programs that help identify trends and concerning developments. Artificial Intelligence aids with catching issues quickly.

Possible issues are flagged to licensed personnel, nurses and ultimately, providers as needed.If a deterioration in a patient’s condition is noted, the bedside team checks on the patient immediately.

“The goal is to do automation where we can do automation, bringing in humans when a human is needed,” Patel said. “We can be that safety net and second pair of eyes to review and evaluate the data for signs of subtle changes.”

How is it helpful?

Virtual health is helpful in a variety of cases, such as sepsis, in which the risk of mortality increases with every hour that treatment is delayed. Virtual monitoring has helped identify sepsis events two hours earlier than before.

“Time to intervention is really, really important,” Hassell said. “We can use AI to find events sooner, then put clinical support on the back end to continue to monitor the patient and provide extra vigilance for patient safety.”

While a bedside nurse may care for a patient with sepsis every month or two, the Virtual Health Center sees several sepsis alerts each hour. All of that data and experience helps improve monitoring.

“We get really good at knowing how to find sepsis and deterioration and treat it earlier,” Hassell said.

Virtual monitoring is also helpful for preventing bed sores, which can present a serious risk, especially for frail, elderly patients. AI can help quickly identify patients who are at risk, ensuring a wound care nurse visits them within 24 hours.

“There’s increased speed to identification and increased speed to treatment with these different tools,” Hassell said. “You see that theme over and over.”

Virtual health provides much-needed relief to providers in areas where it can be hard torecruit and retain physicians.

“A year ago, we put in place a program in which we can take care of patients virtually at night from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.,” Patel said. “Whoever is working in-person can sleep and be with their family because they’re not on-call 24-7. It helps support patient care not just by keeping patients safe, but also by helping support the well-being of hospitalists.”

Bringing the hospital to the home

The Virtual Health Center even supports patients in their homes. For instance, patients with diabetes can share data from their continuous glucose monitoring device, allowing clinicians to adjust insulin dosing in real time.

“Patients find their diabetes is better controlled because they’re getting intensive support from diabetes educators and the clinical team,” Patel said.

The program can also assist patients with respiratory or cardiac issues by monitoring data from wearable medical devices. While using the technology may initially feel daunting to patients, Hassell explains that it’s easy to set up and use — one patient she has worked with was 98 years old.

“We make it very simple for patients,” Hassell said. “Once we explain it’s like bringing the hospital into your home, and now you’re going to have a care team watching over you, most patients are very excited to have access to this type of care.”

Susan Cunningham writes for UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center. She can be reached at cunninghamsbc@gmail.com.