New York’s Mount Sinai Health System has teamed up with Google Nest to use the video and audio technologies to monitor some of the most critically ill patients with Covid-19.

Nurses on the front line are using more than a hundred Nest cameras installed at hospitals across the system to monitor closely and communicate with patients.

“This technology improves our efficiency by cutting down the number of times our medical team has to enter patient rooms, allowing us to preserve protective personal equipment,” said Robbie Freeman, vice president at Mount Sinai Hospital. “Twofold, it enhances safety for patients because we can keep an eye on everyone from the nursing station, and for our staff, it minimises the frequency of time spent in-room with Covid-19 patients.”

The purpose-built Nest cameras console enables health care workers to live-stream a feed from an inpatient unit and initiate communication with patients. Google Nest joined efforts with Mount Sinai in April to pilot the console in a hospital setting as the virus reached peak levels in New York and continued to spread across the nation, causing an influx of patients and straining resources for all hospitals.

“The Mount Sinai Health System remains committed to providing thoughtful, personalised care to patients while using the latest in cutting-edge technologies and digital health,” said Sudipto Srivastava, senior director at Mount Sinai Health System. “We are grateful to partner with Google in curating a console that responds to the needs of so many hospitals right now. The Nest team worked with us over nights and weekends to develop a much-needed solution that addressed real challenges. This assists us with providing the highest level of care, while serving our patients and protecting our staff.”

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York’s largest academic medical system, encompassing eight hospitals, a medical school, and a network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai is a national and international source of education, translational research and discovery, and collaborative clinical work. The system includes more than 7200 physicians and features a robust and continually expanding network of multispecialty services, including more than 400 ambulatory practice locations throughout the five boroughs of New York, Westchester and Long Island.