Robotic Telepresence in a Medical Intensive Care Unit--Clinicians' Perceptions.

Background: Robotic telepresence has been used for outsourcing of healthcare services for more than a decade; however, its use within an academic medical department is not yet widespread. Intensive care unit (ICU) robots can be used to increase access to off-site supervising physicians and other specialists, reducing possible wait time for difficult admissions and procedures.

Objective: To study the use of ICU robots through a pilot program in an academic hospital and examine provider attitudes toward the usability and effectiveness of an ICU robot.

A randomized multi-arm repeated-measures prospective study of several modalities of portable oxygen delivery during assessment of functional exercise capacity.

Background: Ambulatory oxygen is an important component of long-term oxygen therapy. Pulse-dose technology conserves oxygen and thus increases the operation time of a portable oxygen system.

Methods: We tested 4 ambulatory oxygen systems (Helios, HomeFill, FreeStyle, and the compressed-oxygen cylinder system we regularly provide for long-term oxygen therapy at our Veterans Affairs hospital) with 39 subjects with stage-IV chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.