Thursday, August 29, 2013
Great Advancements Made To Support The Growth Of Telemedicine In Renfrew County
Significant advancements have recently been made in the field of telemedicine which have enabled the Pembroke Regional Hospital in collaboration with local and regional partners to create new opportunities to bring more services closer to home.
“Great headway has been made over the past two years thanks to the receipt of additional ministry funding for four RPNs (Registered Practical Nurses) to support the growth of telemedicine in Renfrew County,” said Karen Roosen, the Hospital’s telemedicine lead.
As a result, expanded telemedicine services are now available for such services as pre-operative and post-operative appointments as well as those in the areas of mental health and addictions, pre-diabetes and diabetes and complex health conditions.
As pioneers in the use of two-way videoconferencing, PRH has evolved from being the first hospital in the province to use the technology, to now being one of more than twenty telemedicine sites in the Champlain region with ramped up resources allowing access to more specialists and specialized services.
The Hospital’s first “link” was established in 1997 as a pilot project with the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Three years later, PRH joined 15 other community hospitals in a bid for funding which, one year later, would result in creation of the Eastern Ontario Telehealth Network with PRH at the lead, one of four projects funded in the province.
Since then, and with telemedicine services now made available through the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN), the use of the service has experienced tremendous growth with sessions now being used for physician specialties such as psychiatry, cardiology, dermatology, nephrology (kidney), paediatrics, endocrinology consults, nursing and dietary counselling.
Pembroke resident Keith Mau was recently seen in a cardiology clinic and was very impressed with the service.
“I loved it. It worked extremely well and saved me what would normally require a day going down to Ottawa. With telemedicine it was fast and easy, the people were very friendly and I would certainly recommend this method to others,” Mr. Mau said.
In the past year alone, Ms. Roosen said there were 3,000 new telemedicine appointments county-wide which is more than double the average rate for expansion and growth of the program.
As the administrative lead, PRH is one of four county hospital sites that received the enhanced RPN funding to support the growth of telemedicine in our area. Service agreements have been established with hospitals in Deep River, Barry’s Bay and Renfrew allowing residents from those areas to also access a variety of services which would otherwise necessitate a great deal of travel time. These statistics demonstrate the tremendous growth and success of telemedicine across all hospital sites in Renfrew County.
Some of the specific areas of recent growth include services for mental health and addictions which have expanded in the Renfrew area and the pre-op nursing assessments for those living in the outlying areas and having surgery in Pembroke.
“We have been doing the pre-op nursing assessments via telemedicine on a pilot basis for a couple of months and are ready to expand to running these on a regular basis as well as adding in anesthesia assessments as a next step,” Ms. Roosen said.
Another area of growth for referrals which can now be addressed via telemedicine involves appointments for those with complex healthcare conditions for services such as chiropody (footcare). Urology consultations have also been made available on a limited basis with the surgeon being able to use telemedicine in order to consult with colleagues on more complex cases.
Tele-dermatology is another new program. Typically dermatology consultations can take up to a year but now, using telemedicine, an RPN takes a picture for assessment and forwards it to a dermatologist who can provide recommendations to the family physician within a week.
“This area of medicine is one of tremendous potential,” Ms. Roosen said.
“Our clinics in cardiology and neurology continue to grow. Smoking cessation clinics are in the pilot stage and we are exploring cancer and palliative care along with cardiac rehab opportunities with support from The Ottawa Hospital and The Ottawa Heart Institute,” she said, adding that there is anticipated growth in these areas over the next year.
Sister Teresa Todd of Pembroke said she had a wonderful experience with her telemedicine appointment for cardiology.
“It was exactly the same as if someone was in front of you in the same room. You are able to communicate one-on-one with the doctor and ask questions and the picture and sound are very clear,” she said, noting that it not only saved her a long two-hour trip to Ottawa for what would likely be an early-morning appointment, but it also potentially saved the doctor from having to make a trip to Pembroke, allowing him to see more patients in the time he would have had to travel.
As co- chair of the Champlain Telemedicine Coordinating Committee that meets quarterly, Ms. Roosen said the committee has recently launched a common telemedicine client and provider survey to evaluate both patient and provider satisfaction across the Champlain region.
“We are all working collaboratively, with the common priority being to bring services as close to home as possible.”
Carolyn Levesque is the Public Affairs and Communications Coordinator for the
Pembroke Regional Hospital.
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