Miami Hospital Uses Cameras To Fight Coronavirus

MIAMI, FL — With dozens of new coronavirus patients at any given time, Florida's largest public hospital system is using video cameras to minimize the exposure of doctors, nurses and other hospital staff to the highly contagious illness.

“The cameras help nurses, doctors, and other health care professionals monitor multiple patients, while minimizing bedside visits and the risk of contracting the virus,” observed Michael Garcia, senior vice president and chief information officer at Jackson Health System.

With multiple campuses, including Jackson Memorial Hospital, officials said the health system was treating 109 coronavirus patients as of Wednesday. Jackson had discharged another 504 coronavirus patients.

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Nine video cameras have been placed in adult intensive care units and two more cameras have been placed in the neonatal intensive care unit at Holtz Children’s Hospital on the University of Miami Jackson Memorial Medical Center campus.

"All I’ve heard is wonderful things since now the patients have a way to communicate with their care givers," Garcia told Patch.

Miami-Dade County has been the epicenter of Florida's coronavirus outbreak with 17,396 confirmed cases as of Thursday. Jackson has been on the front lines of treatment as Florida's largest hot zone.

In most cases, the patients can't see the person on the other end of the camera but "staff and patients can speak to each other," the health system's Tania Leets added.

In the neonatal intensive care unit, new mothers who test positive for the coronavirus are given a monitor to see their child.

Garcia said Jackson has applied for grant money in an effort to expand the program to as many as 1,000 patients. The additional cameras would be placed at Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital, the Miami Transplant Institute, maternity units, long-term care centers and corrections health facilities.

"In April, Jackson submitted an application to the Federal Communications Commission in an effort to obtain additional telehealth equipment that would be used during the pandemic and beyond for targeted patient populations," Garcia shared.