Establishing Telemedicine Services In Small And Rural Towns

By Carol Sanders


Rural communities are often among the most medically under served in the country today. Some small towns have a doctor's office or a small hospital. Many do not even have that and instead have no medical services at all for people who live there. As a result, residents are sometimes faced with the choice of either driving for a long time to get medical care or simply going without healthcare services. To minimize the inconvenience and suffering of these rural clients, bigger healthcare services are now offering telemedicine options for people in these small towns.

If you have never before heard of this service, you might wonder what it is and how it can impact you as a patient. As its name implies, it is a type of telecommunication service that ports in medical consultations with doctors, nurses, and specialists from all over the country. You do not have to drive to a big city or to another hospital to get treatment or go to a meeting. The meeting can take place virtually.

These meetings are also facilitated in part by another healthcare worker, usually a nurse or nurse practitioner, who works in a mobile medical unit. This person may not only drive the mobile unit. He or she may also provide basic healthcare services like blood pressure checks or glucose meter readings for people who live in the town or county. As part of a person's appointment, the practitioner might use Skype or another virtual service to meet virtually with another healthcare provider in a bigger city or at another hospital. It essentially eliminates the need to have that physician or specialist on the premises.

The primary benefit that comes with the service involves no longer having to drive miles away to be seen at a major city's hospital or medical clinic. You can essentially receive most of your healthcare where you live. The doctor treating you also does not have to drive to another location or even make phones calls or send emails about how best to take care of you.

Virtual consultations can be arranged to allow specialists to talk with physicians in these facilities and also view patient records without having to be on site. Patients with precarious conditions like cancer or heart disease might be able to receive treatment closer to home and avoid having to travel dozens of miles away just to be seen by a specialist.

As this service is perfected, more healthcare organizations want to make it available in all areas of the country. Some private hospital groups are granting smaller facilities money to set up the services in their locations. The money can even be used to install and maintain wireless Internet connections. It spares these facilities from having to rely on dial-up or broadband Internet services that are not as reliable.

Likewise, the federal government is also giving grants to many rural hospitals and doctors' offices. The funds permit these locations to set up and maintain this level of patient care. It is changing the way that people in rural farming towns and remote county locations receive medical care.

The opportunity to meet with a specialist or doctor via a virtual meeting often cannot be passed by today. More doctors in rural towns are using telemedical services to improve the manner in which patients are treated. These services connect physicians in small cities with specialists in larger locations. It also connects mobile units to medical facilities in big cities.




About the Author: