Cyber-Physical Intensive Care Medical System for Covid-19

Project Information

ICU4Covid

Grant agreement ID: 101016000

DOI

10.3030/101016000

Project closed

EC signature date 13 October 2020

Start date 1 January 2021

End date 31 December 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Health, demographic change and well-being

Total cost

€ 12 464 376,96

EU contribution

€ 10 497 102,38

Coordinated by

UNINOVA-INSTITUTO DE DESENVOLVIMENTO DE NOVAS TECNOLOGIAS-ASSOCIACAO
Portugal

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ICU4Covid (Cyber-Physical Intensive Care Medical System for Covid-19)

Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

ICU4Covid is a Cyber-Physical System for Telemedicine and Intensive Care (CPS4TIC), a medical solution for well respond to COVID-19 further outbreaks or similar infectious diseases. The CPS4TIC consists of a telemedicine cockpit, a connector platform, and smart hubs. The hub continuous real-time tele-monitoring and smart care environment. The CPS4TIC is shaped for delivery of the level of treatment that is needed for the individual patient in an effective, economic, and efficient manner. By integrated use of telemedicine, the time gain for diagnosis and treatment are significant. Thus, resources can be used more efficiently, and staff exposure will be further diminished.

With CPS4TIC, the doctors in a centre core hospital can see and hear both the colleagues and patients in other areas of the same hospital or in connected hospitals, e.g. peripheral hospital or health centre. Moreover, beside seeing the patient, a connector platform allows the connection to the patient data management system in the ICU Hub network connected hospitals. This enables the health workers to overview all relevant data, such as vital data, lab data, microbiology, radiology, and data from the Electronic Health Record (EHR).

ICU4Covid deployed and test the CPS4TIC at large-scale in 10 ICU Hubs in Europe. Each ICU Hub operates telemedicine, continuous real-time tele-monitoring, and a bedside smart care environment. The bedside smart care environment reduces the risk of infection for the health workforce significantly both for the central and peripheral hospitals.

ICU4Covid enables access to the recommended coverage of intensive care, real-time tele-monitoring, and bedside smart care environment. It delivers a Personal health solution, throughout a personalized diagnostics and clinical management of COVID-19 patients that are clinically entering a critical stage for a high number of cases. Hence, a SAFE health setting is implemented, protecting from further spreading of the disease among the healthcare workforce and the patients. ICU4Covid is Inclusive, reducing the distance as a barrier between patients and physicians. With CPS4TIC the transport of patients can be minimized, while patient real-time monitoring is assured. It takes the Societal dimension as the basis to respond to the Citizens needs through a Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) framework for ICU Hubs. To assure sustainability and long-term success of the implemented CPS4TIC), ICU4Covid put in place co-creation environments in each ICU Hub, engaging the stakeholders affected by the implementation to assure that solutions are attuned to the different expectations, knowledges, and needs.

ICU4Covid grants excellence in medical treatment to Everyone, Everywhere, Any time.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the project, the ICU4Covid consortium was deeply involved in the technology deployment of the CPS4TIC in each ICU Hub, while coordinating with clinical integration, and developing the co-creation environment, to establish a European cluster network of ICU Hubs. In what regards the technology deployment, the ICU Hubs were established in 8 European countries. The needs and technical infrastructure from the hospitals to install the CPS4TIC were identified, and the CPS4TIC technical handbook is available.

Regarding the clinical integration, it was defined the blueprint to maintain an effective day-to-day use in clinical operations and key processes in the ICU Hubs, both in the central and peripheral hospitals. The Master Template to establish ICU Hubs was developed, addressing a multi-actor audience aiming to establish a new ICU Hub. The Master Template presents a blueprint to establish a new ICU Hub, supporting smooth integration of hospitals and deployment of new technology. Additionally, it includes the elaboration of a detailed plan to support decision-making, implementation of technology in hospitals and sustainability of the ICU Hubs.

In what regards the SSH dimension, it was outlined a detailed SSH framework that informs a successful, sustainable, and responsible implementation of CPS4TIC during the ICU4Covid project and beyond. In addition, a methodological approach for designing the co-creation environments was developed., presenting a set of modular social science methods. These methods allowed to gain the necessary insights to understand how the implementation process transforms the ICUs and how to best integrate the technological means into existing ICU processes to improve patient care.

Regarding communication and dissemination, special attention was given to communication campaign, targeting the project identified audience, namely healthcare professionals, healthcare administration, policy makers and regulators, ICT providers, and general audience.

Lastly, a roll-out plan was established, defining the best way to achieve and leverage the ICU4Covid expected impact and to assure that ICU4Covid concept is largely uptake and implemented across Europe, delivering a comprehensive deployment plan, and providing practical steps for the initial implementation actions and guidelines for future sustainability, with all key elements for success and potential pitfalls identified.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

ICU4Covid progressed towards a human-centred innovation, through an interdisciplinary integration of the SSH perspectives all along the technical deployment and clinical integration in the ICU Hubs. The co-creation approach that ICU4Covid has adopted seeks to explore and document the differences between the hospitals and facilitate conversations between developers and future users to collaboratively develop models of using CPS4TIC and corresponding user roles in ways that respond to these local needs and possibilities. Indeed, when engaging with the different hospital partners and during site visits, we encountered a considerable diversity of “socio-technical use models” across the hospitals in the consortium, namely: tele-medical ward round model, emergency model, in-house consultations or remote monitoring, home shift, tele-education, tele-nursing, and the European telehealth network for acute care.

The Master Template to establish ICU Hubs was developed, addressing a multi-actor audience aiming to establish a new ICU Hub. Additionally, the plan to roll-out the master template in Europe was developed, identifying the strategy and operational activities for the project results exploitation, within a sustainable plan, ensuring the continuation of ICU4Covid activities after the end of the project through full incorporation of the technology and methods in ICU daily activities, and by the commercialisation/exploitation of ICU4Covid technologies and solutions by the consortium partners. ICU4Covid concept and value proposition is an integrated system (CPS4TIC), which allows the operation of an ICU Hub in a cooperative way, with telemedicine, continuous real-time telemonitoring, including CPS decision-support models, and bedside smart care environment. Together, all these making the work environment safer, helping to overcome shortages in qualified staff, and promoting more accurate diagnostics and therapeutics by knowledge sharing between ICU Hubs and medical facilities within Europe.

Also, the creation of the European Telehealth Network (ETN), the DS4Health project, and the nurturing of own consortium partners’ networks are important steps to ensure the further and continuous deployment and implementation of ICU4Covid in Europe.

The ICU4Covid solution - CPS4TIC