Tele-Consultations
Imagine
if a doctor at TheSick Kids Hospital in Canada can examine
a patient in Children Hospital, EWMSC, Trinidad, without
taking a flight or leaving the compound! Well, Telehealth
makes this possible!
Telehealth
connects the healthcare team at Sick Kids with patients
and health care professional in Trinidad. The Telehealth
office at the EWMSC, is the single point of entry for all
tele-consultation requests at the hospital, with the Telehealth
Programme Manager being responsible for planning and coordinating
all tele-consultations.
The
Telehealth Programme Manager will screen all referrals,
arrange for pre clinic testing and act as a liaison between
our local specialist and Sick Kids. The tele-consultation
process was set up to closely replicate the standard clinic
process to ensure that the specialist using the service
would be familiar and comfortable with using telehealth
to see their patients.
The
tele-consultation process ensures that:
-
Existing referral patterns to the Children’s Hospital,
EWMSC are honoured.
- Each
new Tele-consultation referral comes from a specialist/
physician
- Follow-up
patient consultation can be booked by our local hospital
staff, EWMSC, or by the patient’s primary care
physician following consultation with the local specialist.
- Pre-clinic
tests are made available prior to the Telehealth clinic
day.
- All
patients are registered and have a local health record
file.
- Families
applying for assistance through the Herbie Fund channel
their requests through the Telehealth Programme. This
would facilitate a faster response to requests for assistance.
The
Telehealth network infrastructure supports safe, effective
and ethical tele-consultations. The Telehealth Programme
Manager will operate the technology and facilitate patient
consultation. Clinicians from a wide range of hospital discipline
can use the system for medical and surgical referrals, follow-up
appointments, patient care conference, discharge planning
conferences, and patient/family information sessions.
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