Central Valley Medical Center now provides an extra level of support to stroke and critical care patients in the Emergency Department. Telehealth is a unique collaboration between the CVMC Emergency Department (ED) and Intermountain Healthcare.
Using Telehealth technology, including high-definition cameras, audio equipment, and televisions in inpatient rooms, clinicians at CVMC’s Nephi Hospital can quickly connect through a secure video conferencing device with stroke experts at Intermountain Healthcare 24x7.
Although the idea of the cameras and audio technology might sound simple, the education and training around Telehealth programs allow trained staff and specialists on both ends of the camera to provide seamless, superior care.
Every second counts when dealing with critical care and stroke patients. During a stroke, a patient loses thousands of brain cells per second. Rapidly diagnosing and treating stroke is critical to better outcomes for patients. Intermountain’s care team collaborates with our local CVMC care team to provide virtual consultations, daily rounding, and offer guidance. This program allows our patients and their family members to stay close to home while receiving the best quality of care right here in our community.
“Central Valley has been a critical access hospital and stroke center with telehealth services for many years, but this new partnership with Intermountain will allow us to use resources to help keep patients at CVMC or to utilize faster transfers when they are needed.” said Jared England, CVMC Chief Nursing Officer.“ We are excited to have Intermountain critical care and stoke specialists just a video call away so that we are able to offer these services to our community.“
This partnership with Intermountain Healthcare will not only implement innovative technology to assist in providing superior patient care, but it will also address existing challenges, including the following:
- The limitation for room availability. When transfers were needed in the past, our previous partners may have been at capacity, making it difficult to find available rooms at other facilities. We now have access to additional resources and facilities.
- The ability to transfer patients to closer facilities if the need arises. This increases the response time for treatment from facility to facility and reduces the travel time for families and visitors of the patients.
- A need for clinical expertise and support that will allow patients to receive care quickly and continue along their path to recovery.
For more information on this new partnership, please visit centralvalleymedicalcenter.com/TeleHealth