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EPIC · Project

Telemedicine System for Improving Palliative Care in Intensive Care Units

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Imagine a hospital's most critical ward where doctors often struggle to balance life-saving treatment with patient comfort. This project creates a digital support system and training program to help staff identify when to shift focus toward relieving pain and distress. It uses remote expert counseling to bring specialist knowledge to hospitals that don't have their own palliative care teams.

By the numbers
20% to 60%
ICU patients who would benefit from palliative care
2001
patients enrolled in the trial
23
multi-disciplinary ICUs involved
7
clinical centers in 5 countries
10%
population decedents who die after ICU admission
The business problem

What needed solving

ICUs often provide aggressive life-prolonging treatment even when it is not beneficial, leading to high costs and patient distress. There is a critical shortage of palliative care experts available to guide these decisions in real-time.

The solution

What was built

A practice model including a patient identification checklist, a tele-palliative counseling system, a blended learning program for staff, and a patient decision aid.

Audience

Who needs this

Public and private hospital networksTelehealth software developersMedical education providersHealth insurance companies focusing on end-of-life care efficiency
Business applications

Who can put this to work

Digital Health
mid-size
Target: Telemedicine platform provider

If you are a telemedicine platform provider dealing with low adoption of specialized care modules — this project developed a tele-palliative counseling model that connects ICU clinicians with remote experts. This provides a proven use-case for expanding specialized medical services via digital tools.

Healthcare Education
SME
Target: Medical training company

If you are a medical training company dealing with a lack of specialized ICU curricula — this project developed a blended learning program for nurses and physicians. This content can be used to create certified training modules for critical care staff.

Hospital Management
enterprise
Target: Private hospital group

If you are a private hospital group dealing with high ICU costs and long patient stays — this project developed a practice model aimed at a reduction in ICU stay to relieve suffering. This can lead to better resource allocation and cost effectiveness.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What is the cost or price of implementing this model?

Based on available project data, the specific price is not listed, but the project describes telemedicine as a low-cost solution to spread the model across Europe.

Can this be scaled to an industrial level?

Yes, the project uses a multicentre trial across 7 clinical centers in 5 countries and 23 ICUs, demonstrating a scalable model for European healthcare systems.

What are the IP and licensing terms for the tools?

The project aims to provide a refined and open access version of the EPIC model and training, suggesting a non-proprietary distribution strategy.

How does this integrate into existing ICU workflows?

It integrates via a trigger checklist for patient identification and a blended learning program for existing ICU nurses and physicians.

What is the timeline for deployment?

The project period runs from 2024-01-01 to 2028-12-31, indicating a multi-year development and testing phase.

Consortium

Who built it

The consortium is heavily academic, consisting of 9 universities and 2 research institutions. However, it includes 1 industry partner and 1 SME, indicating a small but present bridge to commercialization. With 15 partners across 9 countries, the project has strong cross-border validation capabilities, which is critical for health-tech scaling in the EU.

How to reach the team

Contact Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Contact us to explore licensing the open-access EPIC training modules.

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