MAUSTON, Wis. – Mile Bluff Medical Center’s hospital team is excited to announce the addition of an electronic intensive care unit, or eICU, in Mauston.

“We’ve partnered with UW Health to bring this service to Mile Bluff” said the medical center’s Director of Acute Care, Brianna Juszczak. “Using advanced technology, we can connect with critical care experts in real time, 24 hours a day.”

When the need for intensive care arises, it can be challenging for rural hospitals to find available ICU beds in larger centers for patients to be transferred.  With an eICU, patients can often remain in their local hospital, and have access to two teams of experts to care for them.

From an office building in Madison, the UW Health eICU team monitors and cares for patients across Wisconsin and northern Illinois.  Staffed with board-certified critical care intensivists, experienced critical care nurses and nursing assistants, the eICU provides proactive care with specialized software.

Using confidential, high-speed data lines, a bank of monitors dedicated to each patient displays the same information that is seen by teams at partner hospitals like Mile Bluff.   This includes heart rate, blood pressure, test and imaging results and medication lists.  The eICU program also features the option of a live video feed that connects the two care teams and patients in real time.

“This two-way connection between us and Madison provides extra support and safety for our critically-ill patients,” expressed Juszczak. “Together, the teams from Mile Bluff and UW Health use all of the information available to collaborate on patient care to ensure the best possible outcomes.”