First, I want to apologize for not posting the past couple of weeks, but when we moved our offices after HIMSS, I couldn’t sign on to the blog. Now that problem has been somewhat resolved, there is a lot of information I want to impart, beginning with this item.
First, I want to apologize for not posting the past couple of weeks, but when we moved our offices after HIMSS, I couldn’t sign on to the blog. Now that problem has been somewhat resolved, there is a lot of information I want to impart, beginning with this item.
Last Week, the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale posted information about another success in its Telestroke Program here in Arizona. Mayo relayed the story about Mark McNeary, a retired music industry executive who lives on a ranch in Northwest Arizona, near Kingman.
In October of last year, Mark experienced a sudden, unexplained pain in the right side of his head and began having trouble speaking. His wife rushed him to Kingman Regional Medical Center which was 33 miles away. Doctors there quickly assessed him and determined he was having a stroke. KRMC is one of the rural medical facilities in Arizona that is involved in the Mayo Telestroke Network. Staff wheeled a mobile telemedicine cart into his room. ( Naturally, in the serious situation he was facing, you wouldn’t expect him to check the brand on it, but we know it was a GlobalMed cart.) Thus began a videoconference call that ended up not only saving Mark’s life but also preserving his quality of life. Click the video below because Mark tells the story best.
It’s fantastic that the Mayo Clinic neurologist was available to a patient hundreds of miles away. Sadly, this kind of network isn’t in place in most other states. As a result, many patients don’t get the clot-busting drugs soon enough and spend the rest of their lives bed-ridden with a greatly reduced quality of life.
Telemedicine does change the dynamics of healthcare, bringing quality specialty care to the patient.