OLVG's Tele-IC nominated for Cisco Innovations Award

AMSTERDAM, February 1, 2012 – Tele-IC brought Amsterdam hospital Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis(OLVG) to London yesterday as finalist for the 2012 Cisco Innovation Award in the category “Most Innovative Collaboration/Video Project of the Year.” The video solution that was developed with VisionsConnected enables intensivists through video to take over the treatment of patients on Intensive Care in another hospital during evening-, night- and weekend shifts.

The annual Cisco Innovations Awards recognise and reward organisations that implement advanced technology, whilst leading the field in delivering real and tangible benefits. Peter van der Voort, Intensivist at OLVG in Amsterdam, represented OLVG in London during the Eighth Innovation Award Dinner. “We are proud of this recognition. We worked hard, together with VisionsConnected, to create a system that supports our intensive care practice without fail. By using Tele-IC, patients receive twenty-four hour intensive care in their local hospital,” comments Van der Voort on behalf of OLVG.

Tele-IC means 24 hour continuity
Peter van der Voort: Many hospitals don’t have level 3 IC, like the OLVG has, for patients with very complicated and serious illnesses. Specialized nurses and intensivists are continuously staffing our IC. We now have an intensivist available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, who monitors and follows MC Zuiderzee’s IC using audio-video connection, through a number of screens and treats the patient from a distance. The intensivist is supported locally by medical specialists and IC-nurses at MC Zuiderzee. A big advantage is the availability of distant treatment by an intensivist during evening-, night- and weekend shifts in these smaller hospitals. Thereby ensuring continuity 24 hours a day.”

No compromise
In April 2011, OLVG Amsterdam and Medical Center ZuiderZee Lelystad were the first two hospitals in Europe to implement tele-IC, which was collaboratively developed with managed video service provider VisionsConnected. Key success factor was integration with current patient datamanagementsystem MetaVision. Bert de Vos, VisionsConnected Advisor Visual Communications Healthcare: “Focus on user requirements is always a given. For intensive care applications, this translates to ‘no compromise’. If technology proves to be a limiting factor, we have to think of another solution.”

Added value compulsory
Projects are only nominated for Cisco Innovation Awards if the applied advanced and innovative technology proves to add value in practice. Tele-IC meets a pressing need, because IC-units in local hospitals have to close doors if no intensivists are available to monitor patients during nights and weekends. Raymond Alves, CEO VisionsConnected: “Looking ahead, tele-IC’s success underlines the importance of developing innovative video solutions that have a societal impact and really support organisations. Our continuous strive for innovation within the visual communications industry is rewarded with this nomination like icing on a cake.”

About Cisco Innovations Award
The Innovation Awards at Cisco Live honor outstanding achievements in the deployment and successful implementation of innovative technologies within Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia. Now in their eighth year, the Awards recognize and reward organizations that truly embrace new and advanced technology whilst leading the field in delivering real and tangible benefits. For more information, visit Cisco Live

About Het Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis
The Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis (OLVG) is the only general hospital in Amsterdam that is - literally and figuratively speaking - in the capital’s hectic center. The hospital combines top clinical patient care with high level hospitality. ‘Setting the standard’ and ‘innovative’ characterize OLVG’s approach. At OLVG, almost all important medical specialties are represented. Yearly, more than 290 thousand people visit the polyclinic, thirteen thousand patients are treated in day treatment and more than nineteen thousand multiple-day hospitalizations Tele-IC OLVG impression: Video Tele-IC OLVG