Rethinking Resource Utilization: A Comprehensive Critique of the Fairview Critical Care
Program
Preston Burkhart
Southern New Hampshire University
IHP 670 Program Design Plan and Eval
Professor Ijewemen
July 30th, 2023
Resource Requirement
The study lists the different resources that will be needed to set up and run the Fairview
Critical Care Program. The parts of this program are program leadership, a physician leadership
group, a steering committee, an ICU physician group, tele-ICU, medical informatics, a program
working group, research, and education. These parts are needed to offer continuous patient
monitoring, ensure that quality measures are met, manage technology, make it easier for people
to share data, come up with protocols, and teach.
Also, the program required the use of Epic, an electronic medical record system, and a
tele-ICU hub with a video system to provide consultation and instantaneous monitoring. The cost
of building and running the tele-ICU program was $1,186,220 and $1,250,112 per year, or
$23,150 per monitored ICU bed (Fortis et al., 2014).
Planning for the resources needed has a big impact on how well the program works as a
whole. By using resources well, the program can give better care to patients, make it run more
efficiently, and cut costs. Given how important intensivists are in ICUs and how few are
expected to be available in the future, the Fairview Critical Care Program's needs for resources
seem justified. Even though the tele-ICU part was expensive at first, it turned out to be a
sustainable model that allowed critical care to be given in real-time. The program is even more
effective now that Epic is being used to share data and manage patients.
Improvement Areas
Even though this program needs a lot of resources, there are a few ways that the
organization could make better use of those resources. Since hospitalists and private practitioners
used to do most of the care in the ICU, there may be a need for more training for intensivists. To
make the most of its resources, the organization could put more of its attention on intensivist
training for current employees as opposed to heavily relying on external hiring (Ervin et al.,
2018). This could also make hospitals less reliant on the tele-ICU system and improve the care
they give directly (Ervin et al., 2018).
Even though using Epic was a good step forward, more should be done to make EMRs
work together better. Connecting EMRs across all ICUs has the potential to improve data
sharing, management of care, and clinical results (Promoting Interoperability Programs, 2023).
This interoperability could include all ICUs, regardless of whether they are part of the tele-ICU
system.
These two ideas could help cut down on operational costs, make the program last longer,
and improve care for patients. Training the people who are already working for the program
could make them more skilled and able to handle more complicated cases, which would make
the program more successful overall. In the same way, improving EMR interoperability could
make it easier for all ICUs to communicate with each other, leading to better care that is more
efficient and well-coordinated.
References
Ervin, J., Kahn, J. M., Cohen, T. R., & Weingart, L. R. (2018). Teamwork in the intensive care
unit. American Psychologist, 73(4), 468–477. [Link]
Fortis, S., Weinert, C. R., Bushinski, R., Koehler, A., & Beilman, G. J. (2014). A Health System-
Based Critical Care Program with a Novel Tele-ICU: Implementation, Cost, and Structure
Details. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 219(4), 676–683.
[Link]
Promoting Interoperability Programs. (2023, June 12). Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services. Retrieved July 28, 2023, from
[Link]
