Date of Conferral
2015
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
School
Nursing
Advisor
Marisa Wilson
Abstract
The growing concern over the nursing shortage has affected the intensive care unit (ICU) and how these units provide quality care, adhere to best practices, and maintain high satisfaction scores. Implementing telemedicine technology allows the ICU to have additional staff available, via cameras at an offsite location, to assist with patient care. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the potential benefits of telemedicine application used within an ICU on quality of care, adherence to best practices, and satisfaction, as evidenced by data from the hospital's telemedicine dashboard. The goals of this project were to reduce length of stay, increase staff satisfaction, and increase compliance with best practices. The diffusion of innovation theory was used to bring about successful change among team members in the ICU. The Focus Plan, Do, Study, Act methodology was used to determine what improvements were needed in the ICU. The evaluation of the telemedicine unit demonstrated early signs of positive progress. Actual length of stay (3.25 days) from the hospital's telemedicine dashboard was less than the predicted length of stay (3.8 days), and adherence to best practice was at or above target (95%) when compared to all telemedicine units across the nation, as provided by the telemedicine dashboard. Implementing a telemedicine unit will bring about a transparency and standardization of Intensive Care services, leading to positive social change in the organization. This social change, combined with the success of the unit, can influence other non-academic healthcare institutions to pursue telemedicine technology.
Recommended Citation
Wallace, Amanda, "Effects of Telemedicine in the Intensive Care Unit on Quality of Care" (2015). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 1612.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/1612
