Doctors teleconference to help patients virtually
Courtesy of Cisco
Combining Medicine with Modern Technology
For the last 12 years, the Prof. Dr. Juan P. Garrahan Pediatric Hospital - the best children's healthcare provider in Argentina - has run a telemedecine Reference and Counter-reference Program. The program has helped deliver remote support for diagnosis via e-mail, fax and telephone to more than 70 hospitals in Argentina. The program connects doctors and patients all over the country with the best doctors in Argentina, alleviating the requirement for patients to either travel across the large country to receive care, or forgo their access to the best care possible.
But an obvious problem with the program is the inability for doctors at the Garrahan Hospital to actually see the patients and provide diagnoses that require visual information. Now, the program is stepping up its capabilities, adding in Cisco TelePresence and Unified Communications to allow doctors and patients to "see" each other without needing to travel.
Dr. Luis Carniglia of Garrahan Hospital was interviewed by Cisco Systems, whose technology is used by the hospital for their telecommunication program, about the success of the trails and how using telecommunications has improved the referral rates to the hospital.
