The future of Intensive Care medicine in Australia

16/Sep/2021     Health

Intensive Care Unit’s (ICU’s) in Australia are set for an overhaul to the current model of care to a patient centred model which incorporates artificial intelligence and cutting-edge technology.  

Several weeks ago, medical, nursing and allied health delegates from Australia and New Zealand met online at the Inaugural Advanced Diagnostics and Physiological Monitoring in Critical Care Symposium to discuss the future of critical care medicine.

Director of Intensive Care Medicine at Mater Hospital Associate Professor Nai An Lai explains the future ICU is one that is person-centred and utilises technology to empower patients, families and staff to deliver more personalised care.

“While more technology will be used, it will be less visible to patients as we wish for the ICU to look like a healing space rather than one filled with monitors and machines,” A/Prof Lai said.

“Patients will be monitored with non-invasive, tetherless sensors allowing earlier mobility and physical rehabilitation. We wish to use a more multidisciplinary approach to care for our patients by incorporate allied health services early in treatment.

“We will also use artificial intelligence to assist in deciphering physiological alarms to ensure clinicians are alerted early to any significant changes in patient’s condition. This machine learning will allow us to process environmental data and foster continuous improvement.”

Infectious Diseases Physician Dr Ian Gassiep spoke on how the COVID-19 pandemic has put ICU’s under the spotlight around the world.

“As clinicians we have had to work incredibly hard to the rapid evolution of COVID-19 in terms of detection, diagnosis and treatment,” Dr Gassiep said.

“Clinicians at Mater have played a critical role in supporting the Public Health response to COVID-19 and it was exciting to share these learnings with other experts while discussing ways we can work together to improve our strategies.” 

Associate Professor Lai said he is extremely proud to have hosted event with his team and hopes this will pave the way for how critical care medicine is discussed and managed around the world.

“I am excited to see how the Mater ICU team and the Australasian medical community can redefine what is possible and shape the future of critical care through new paradigms and advances in diagnostics and monitoring technology” A/Prof Lai said.

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