The chapter is being joined by two guests, Dr. Buchman and Ms. Hiddleson from Emory Healthcare.

Dr. Buchman and Ms. Hiddleson will be sharing the details behind the Emory eICU program and their successes around this program.

There is a shortage of critical care providers in the United States. Finding new ways of utilizing existing resources to provide high quality care to larger populations is essential for filling the gap found between demand and availability of these highly trained providers. Emory Healthcare took on the challenge by developing a dual program incorporating training of NPs and PAs in critical care while providing real-time surveillance monitoring and immediate access to intensivist guided interventions via a remote teleICU platform. This solution has yielded better outcomes for patients, families and staff in the ICUs with an associated decrease in Medicare spending for those patients served by the Emory eICU.

Timothy Buchman, PhD, MD, FACS, FCCP, MCCM
Dr. Timothy Buchman is the founding director of Emory's Critical Care Center (ECCC), which is integrating ICUs throughout the Emory Healthcare system. The center has assembled clinicians, teachers and investigators from diverse disciplines. Dr. Buchman also founded the Emory eICU Center which provides remote critical care services to patients over a large footprint in multiple hospitals. Dr. Buchman is past president of the Shock Society, the Society for Complex Acute Illness and the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the latter being the largest organization of critical care professionals worldwide. His research has spanned the bench-tobedside continuum, including NIH-funded studies of physiological dynamics; of patient monitoring; of the genetics of sepsis and of ICU end-of-life care. Dr. Buchman is also the Editor in Chief of Critical Care Medicine.
Before joining Emory, he served as the Edison Professor of Surgery and Director of Acute and Critical Care Surgery at Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to his 15 years on the faculty at Washington University, Dr. Buchman directed the surgical intensive care unit and founded the trauma service at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he completed his surgical training.
Dr. Buchman has been a pilot for 44 years and holds Airline Transport Pilot and Flight Instructor Certificates. The first computer he ever programmed was an IBM 1620 at Columbia University Teachers College using SPS, the 1620's assembly language.

Cheryl Hiddleson MSN, RN, CCRN-E
Cheryl is the Director of the Emory eICU Center. Cheryl completed her Masters degree in Clinical Nurse Leadership from The University of Alabama in 2013. She is a member of The Society of Critical Care Medicine, The American Association of Critical Care Nurses, Georgia Nurses Association, American Telemedicine Association, and the Georgia Association of Nurse Leaders. She is also an active a member of Sigma Theta Tau International and a member of the Tele ICU steering committee for SCCM.
Cheryl joined Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital in 1991 and has held various positions including 18 years in the Medical Surgical ICU as the daily charge nurse, critical care resource nurse and Administrative Supervisor/Flow Coordinator before her current position. She has extensive experience related to critical care, patient logistics, and patient flow/throughput. Cheryl was directly responsible for the development of the Emory eICU Center and continues to have clinical and operational oversight of the program. 
Cheryl has lead the implementation of an international program involving intercontinental delivery of tele critical care services for Emory eICU patients. She is committed to advancing innovative care delivery methods related to tele-ICU and telehealth nationally and internationally, to promote quality care for all patients regardless of location.