Physicians and nurses at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis are able to closely monitor intensive care patients at nearly a dozen other rural hospitals across four states, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch news report.
From a control room on the top floor of St. John’s Mercy, physicians and nurses utilize telemedicine to provide healthcare to rural and underserved areas where specialty physicians may be hard to come by, such as Independence, Kan. Through the use of two-way, high-resolution cameras, ICU specialists can monitor patients’ vital signs and review medications, lab and imaging results and patient records, according to the news report.
Healthcare experts say telemedicine is an important tool in not only increasing access to care in underserved areas but also containing healthcare costs by reducing the number of patient hospitalizations.
Read the news report about telemedicine at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center.
Read other coverage about telemedicine:
– Telemedicine May Drive Down ICU Mortality and Length-of-Stay
– OMB to Review Proposed Final Rule for Streamlined Credentialing of Telemedicine
– Study: Telemedicine as Effective as Real Visit for HIV Patients
