TeleNeuroICU: Expanding the Reach of Subspecialty Neurocritical Care

Abstract

Telemedicine is a rapidly growing field of medicine due to a combination of high-speed global telecommunication systems and accessibility of small, fast mobile computing platforms with bidirectional audiovisual camera capabilities. Teleneurology is a subset of telemedicine. TeleNeuroICU, one form of teleneurology, is the practice of virtually consulting on patients in the ICU setting with neurological and neurosurgical conditions. Given the current and future shortage of neurologists and neurointensivists, there is a high demand for TeleNeuroICU services around the globe and this is expected to increase in the future. This review summarizes the state of the art around the TeleNeuroICU practice for practitioners in the field, emerging research in this area, and new technologies and integrations that enhance the value of TeleNeuroICU to health care systems.

Neurocritical Care for Patients With Ischemic Stroke

“…As an effective technique to disseminate localized expertise, “teleneuroICU” is likely to become a significant offering within the teleneurology landscape. The practice of virtually consulting on patients in an ICU setting with neurologic and neurosurgical conditions will be unrestricted by geography and, therefore, potentially offer service to patients with stroke due to LVO across the globe 128 . For more information about telemedicine, refer to the article “Teleneurology and Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Practice” by Elaine C. Jones, MD, FAAN, Benjamin R. Kummer, MD, and Jayne R. Wilkinson, MD, MSCE, 129 in this issue of Continuum .…”

Teleneurology and Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Practice

“…Despite these challenges, telehealth offers a wide variety of advantages and can be applied to many clinical settings including outpatient ambulatory settings 4 and acute and inpatient applications such as telestroke, 5 teleneuro-intensive care, 6 general neurology, and EEG 7 . This article reviews current and future clinical applications of teleneurology, including emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that will expand the neurologist’s ability to integrate this modality into routine practice ( Box 1 8 ).…”