Hospitals enter robotic alliance

Amid speculation about the possible closure of the eight-bed licensed pediatric unit at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, the hospital has decided that, at least for the time being, the unit will remain open, and the partnership with the Children’s Hospital of Orange County will instead work to expand pediatric services.

Hoag administrators announced Friday that the hospital is partnering with CHOC, bringing a pediatric intensive care doctor from the hospital in Orange to the Hoag emergency care unit remotely via a robotic device.

“This is all positive because even if these patients are our own private patients, this is what we want,” said Hoag Pediatric Unit Chairman Andrew Blumberg. “Everybody is working together now.”

Starting Jan. 22, using robotic technology, critical care specialists at CHOC will be able to look at, monitor and assess the condition of a child brought to Hoag’s emergency room should the on-staff emergency room doctor need the extra help in diagnosis.

“When a child is seen in the emergency care unit … the child will be evaluated first by a triage nurse, then by an emergency room physician,” Hoag Chief Executive Richard Afable said. “If the problem is deemed to be either serious enough or, let’s say, unusual, to where the emergency room medical physician may not feel completely comfortable … a critical care specialist at CHOC … will be asked to assist in the evaluation of the child.”

But the CHOC critical care doctor will not have to be present at Hoag to help in the assessment. Doctors will instead control a robot via a secure computer network and be able to see the Hoag unit and go to the child’s bedside.

Although Hoag emergency room doctor John Riel said the current system works well, he’s excited to have the new one, which he hopes will improve the quality of care for patients.

“I think this telemedicine is an important collaborative effort between CHOC and Hoag to provide expert care at Hoag in pediatrics…. I think in a lot of ways it provides an advantage for patient care, and I’m hoping … it improves patient outcomes,” Riel said.

The robot will allow the CHOC doctor to see the child and ask further questions of the child and his family.

“They also have the ability to use certain technology to actually listen to the child’s heart and lungs, as if they were there in the room,” Afable said. “The only thing they can’t do is touch the child via the robot.”

The Hoag doctor will be able to provide the tactile contact with the child, and together the emergency room doctor and pediatric critical care specialist can assess the child’s condition. “It’s always nice to see them rather than just hear the story,” said CHOC pediatric critical care doctor Paul Lubinsky.

Afable said this partnership will in no way supplant pediatricians who now work out of Hoag Hospital.

The partnership will also include a readily available transport unit for children who need to be taken to the Orange hospital. The neonatal intensive care unit at Hoag will also be under the control of CHOC neonatologists, and Hoag neonatologists will become part of the CHOC faculty.