The Doctor Can See You Now: A Key Stakeholder Study Into The Acceptability Of Ambulance Based Telemedicine

Using telecommunications technology it would be possible to link a patient and paramedic to a Doctor in the Emergency Department (ED) at the point of first patient contact. A questionnaire-based study on telemedicine in the pre-hospital environment involving patients, paramedics, doctors and nurses...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Irish medical journal Vol. 111; no. 6; p. 769
Main Authors:	Gilligan, P, Bennett, A, Houlihan, A, Padki, A, Owen, N, Morris, D, Chochliouros, I, Mohammed, A, Mutawa, A, Eswarara, M A, Gannon, S, Alrmawi, A, Gasem, J Z, Sheung, P P N, Tynan, C, Little, R, Merriman, W, Amadi-Obi, A, Kenna, L, Alim, D A, O’Donnel, C
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Ireland 07-06-2018
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Using telecommunications technology it would be possible to link a patient and paramedic to a Doctor in the Emergency Department (ED) at the point of first patient contact. A questionnaire-based study on telemedicine in the pre-hospital environment involving patients, paramedics, doctors and nurses in the ED, was performed to assess if they would want and accept telemedicine in pre-hospital emergency care. When asked 98.5% (55) of patients, 89% (11) of doctors, 76% (14) of nurses and 91% (42) of ambulance personnel saw the potential of an audio-visual link from the pre-hospital environment to the ED. The potential benefits were felt to be in diagnosis of time-dependent illnesses, time management, increased hospital preparedness for incoming patients and increased triage efficiency. Stakeholder enthusiasm for pre-hospital telemedicine must be met with the technological requirements to provide such a service. As noted by one patient a pre-hospital audio-visual link to the ED could be “potentially a life saving service”.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0332-3102