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Distance monitoring helps hospitals with critical care

MARSHFIELD — A doorbell rings and a voice bellows out of a speaker in one of the 16 rooms in Saint Joseph’s Critical Care Unit.
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“Hi, this is the e-ICU,” the voice says.

No one enters the room; instead, a small white camera that looks like a high-tech version of an at-home webcam turns from the wall and faces the patient. It’s an experienced critical care nurse or physician from University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics’ e-Care of Wisconsin program checking in through an electronic intensive care monitoring system.