Telemedicine and Emerging Telecommunications

1

What is telemedicine?

Telemedicine, sometimes also referred to as telehealth, is defined as the “use of medical information, exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications, to improve a patient’s clinical health status.” These exchanges may be voice, video, or data and may be one-way or two-way exchanges.

2

Are there different types of telemedicine?

Telemedicine can generally be categorized into four types of interactions: Teleconsultation, telementoring, telemonitoring, and telesurgery are all types of telemedicine. Each of these involves an interaction, assisted by technology, occurring over a distance, with the goal of improving the health of the patient.

3

What is teleconsultation?

Teleconsultation is the direct communication from EMS providers to a base station physician for advice and instructions while providing prehospital care. Traditionally, this has been done by voice over radio, but with increasing wireless expansion, video consultation is now possible in many areas. In some areas of the United States, EMS providers are able to obtain consultation with specialists, such as stroke neurologists, to assist in the examination of patients while in the field. The specialist is then able to assist in determining a transport mode and destination for patients who may benefit from being transported to a higher level of care, bypassing a local hospital.

Another very common form of teleconsultation is the transmission of 12-lead EKGs for evaluation of ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Prehospital providers obtain the EKG and then transmit it to a facility for physician review. This is usually done in conjunction with a request for a cardiac catheterization lab activation. The prehospital transmission of the 12-lead EKG has been shown to shorten the time to cath lab activation and to improve outcomes for patients.