UCLA Medical Center has announced initial clinical tests of the RP-6 mobile robot system in its neurosurgery intensive care unit (ICU). The RP-6 robot, made by InTouch Health Inc. in Santa Barbara, Calif., allows doctors to “virtually” consult with patients, family members and health care staff at a moment’s notice, even if miles away from the hospital.Intensivists -- the physicians who specialize in the care of critically ill patients -- in the neurosurgery department at UCLA are using RP-6 to provide additional monitoring from their homes and offices of ICU patients in response to studies showing that intensivist presence in the ICU can decrease morbidity, mortality, length of stay and cost of care. The project, to be funded through an assistance agreement with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, located at Ft. Detrick, Md., will be led by professor and Chief of Neurosurgery Dr. Neil Martin, associate professor Dr. Paul Vespa and associate professor Valeriy Nenov, all of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
