Washington County Regional Medical Center (WCRMC)in collaboration with DT research and CashIt has implemented a Mobile EMS Telemedicine system (emergency medical services) that connects paramedics in the Rural Georgia with doctors within the region. The system is compatible with the Pavement (Prehospital and outpatient virtual emergency services).
According to a November Press releaseThe WCRMC mobile telemedicine system allows ambulance personnel to collaborate remotely with doctors to diagnose, classify, treat and enrose patients to the nearest local care installation that can treat the patient.
Health innovation Recently he spoke with Michael Padgett, director of EMS on WCRMC, Tetra Jenkins, RN, Stroke and Trauma Program Coordinator on WCRMC, as well as Jeff Urdan, CEO of Swymed, on how the new system is helping paramedics in the field to patients With triage.
The idea began with Michael J. Carr, MD, FACEP, FAEMS, Executive Director of Paves, who occurred to him during COVID-19. Carr wrote for a subsidy, and were looking for partners to try to use the system to determine the functionality and what he needed to adjust.
The concept of having an ambulance enabled for videos is not new. “One day, one of our boys was literally sitting in the traffic behind an ambulance, and he was like, that’s where Urdan recalls. “We found a partner from the University of Virginia Commonwealth who was willing to go through obstacles and the problems of solving this with us so that we had a solution mostly baked when he arrived in Michael.”
The system was implemented with WCRMC six ten months ago. Urdan states that they are always looking for and making improvements in the system.
Emory University and Dr. Carr received a subsidy from HERSA Resource and Services Administration (HRSA). The idea was that Emory emergency doctors would be the center that serves the rural areas of Georgia, explains Urdan.
It was a slow deployment, says Urdan, due to all the elements and processes involved in the installation of the systems in the ambulances. “One of our biggest problems here in the rural areas of Georgia is connectivity with ambulances.” They needed to update modems to obtain better services for ambulances.
Understanding all the capabilities of the new system, says, and the doors that could open, are unimaginable. During Hurricane Debby, several ambulances established in a shelter that performs telemedicine with doctors and emory to take care of patients, so they did not flood the emergency departments (DE), Share Padgett.
Another example in which the system has demonstrated a practice is regarding stroke evaluations. Padgett mentions the time he takes to paramedics to evaluate when a patient is receiving a stroke. The video system allows doctors to evaluate while the patient moves remotely. “It’s like having an older brother in a box, so to speak,” says Padgett. “With the addition of supervision, there is a sense of security for doctors and patients.”
