Roseburg hospital adds "telemedicine" machine, webcam doctor
Roseburg’s Mercy Medical Center Emergency Room has a new way to connect local patients to out of area specialist doctors through a new internet connected webcam program. Equipped with high quality cameras microphones and speakers on a fully pivoting head, the machine is called an “InTouch Robot.” A doctor from a remote location can dial in have a face to face conversation with a doctor and patient about medical care, also doing some work of their own. The machine can also collect and transmit medical data in real time to out of area doctors through connected equipment like a stethoscopes, heart rate monitors, and other basic medical devices.
OHSU is paying for the cost of the robot. Right now, the program will link Mercy Medical Center doctors to medical specialists in at OHSU or Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.
As it stands, Mercy Medical Center will use the machine to help screen stroke patients and severe pediatric cases. Usually, patients involved in those cases are automatically transferred to Portland. OHSU and Mercy Medical Center doctors say this machine will help cut down on those patient transfers, leading to a huge cost savings in transportation costs. Typically, patients with severe stroke and pediatric cases are flown from Roseburg to OHSU or Doernbecher by a fixed-wing, small aircraft. Just one transit can cost $21,000.
Doctor Milles Ellenby of Doernbecher spoke to reporters today on his laptop, from a conference in Vancouver, B.C. He says the video quality is good enough to help doctors get the face to face they need for some cases. While medicine is often built on numbers, measurements and statistics, the emotions and immeasurable qualities of a visual visit can help doctors significantly.
“I’ve been on consults with the folks in Eugene and been able to see a child’s pupil response, by camera, so yeah, it doesn’t replace in person, but when in person isn’t possible is just much better than telephone only,” says Dr. Ellenby.
OHSU and Doernbecher are the only two hospitals linking with Mercy Medical Center right now. Mercy Medical Center officials say this technology could be used to link to other specialists and doctors across the nation and the world if a partnership is formed.