Tuning in to Telemedicine

Like many healthcare facilities, ours is charged with using resources in creative ways to stretch the budget as well as maximize our most valuable resources- our staff and their time. As a facility with 3 locations, 169 beds, and one wound care nurse the challenge has been to negotiate rising healthcare costs while meeting the patients’ wound care needs.  As patients get more complex, their needs are increasingly critical and time is of the essence to appropriately and expeditiously treat their wounds. The time to travel between facilities cuts into precious time spent with patients. Learn how telemedicine is transforming the way our facility does wound care and the potential for other aspects of care. Telemedicine has been implemented starting with wound care, particularly for new consults and follow up visits to ensure that patients with wound care needs can be seen in a timely manner and that new treatments can be implemented as quickly as possible. The benefits of this state of the art technology reaches into staff education, particularly as it relates to wound care and allows the wound care nurse to have input into the wound care process while empowering the bedside nurse to provide the hands-on care. Many patients are finding they love this aspect of our program. They express satisfaction with the care provided and  the responsiveness of our team utilizing telemedicine. We continue to fine tune our use of the telemedicine concept for patient education, staff education and teleconferencing between our now 4 facilities. :