 eFocus: Innovating Patient
Care
When your loved one is in the Intensive Care Unit, it is a stressful
time. You want to know that he or she will receive the best medical care
and closest observation.
As part of our ongoing Quality Initiative, Alegent Creighton Health offers a second layer of care, officially named eFocus, to its intensive care patients.
Alegent Creighton Health has partnered with the industry leader, VISICU, to implement its eICU® program.
eFocus represents innovation at its highest level and is the most advanced
pairing of high quality patient care and technology in critical medicine.
It has been repeatedly shown in systems that have implemented eFocus technology
that with the extra level of vigilance – patient mortality is significantly
reduced, patient outcomes are significantly improved and length of stay is
reduced.
How does Alegent Creighton Health eFocus
work?
Using computers and sophisticated technology, a trained physician along with
critical care nurses can accurately monitor ICU patients from an off-site
location. The eFocus Monitoring Center is staffed 24 hours a day by a
multidisciplinary critical care team.
How does my doctor work with the Alegent Creighton Health
eFocus team?
Your physician designates the level of care he or she wishes to delegate to
the eFocus team. This may range from monitoring to fully implementing the
care plan as ordered by your physician. In all instances, the ICU and
eFocus care teams are available to respond to emergent issues as they
arise. Regardless of the circumstances, the eFocus team communicates
frequently with your physician about the medical care plan. 
How does the Alegent Creighton Health eFocus team deliver
medical care?
Vital signs, medications, blood test results, X-rays and other information
from the bedside monitors are sent to the eFocus Monitoring Center by private
high-speed data lines. This information is displayed on computers exactly
as you see it in the hospital room for the doctors and nurses to view.
Patients can be examined through the use of special cameras if necessary and the
eFocus team can talk directly with the hospital doctors and nurses.
The team also has powerful computer systems that continuously analyze the
information and alerts them to possible problems. This early warning
software allows the staff to recognize possible complications more quickly, before
they become severe.
The combination of the nurses and doctors in the hospital ICU and the eFocus
team provides the best possible care.
How can I be sure my loved one’s private health
information is protected?
Several measures have been taken:
• Access to information is limited
to those with hospital authorization
• Information is not released to
anyone other than those providing medical care.
• No recording is ever
made from either the camera or microphone
• Sending patient information
to and from eFocus occurs only over private connections.
Although new technology is used to assist medical care, it will never replace
human interaction. Alegent Creighton Health knows the importance of a warm touch, a
sense of caring and face-to-face communication with doctors and nurses in the
healing process. Rest assured, nurses will always be present in the
ICU and available to provide immediate care for your loved one.
For more information call (402) 717-3568.
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