Better rural emergency care through technology
By Allan Tinker, BHG News Service
It was a day for a lesson on cameras, microphones, technology, patient care and emergency treatment all rolled into one. Long distance medical care, once limited to fax and telephone, have stepped through to the age of visual and audio aides combined with board certified staff and around the clock access. The classes on March 28 at Community Memorial Hospital in Turtle Lake were taught about eEmergency: a program designed to use high definition audio/video equipment to link rural emergency rooms to board-certified emergency physicians and nurses through a centralized hub, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The continuous availability of the eEmergency team ensures the access to physician emergency care, peer to peer support, and round the clock contacts for information, advice, medical reports, and questions on medicine answers. The local provider retains control of the final decisions regarding patient care, an issue that is valuable to assure patients that the relationship and knowledge local providers have with them will be used to treat them under the emergency situations.
