Telemedicine Adopted for Burn Patients
University Health Care’s Burn Unit (U. burn) in Salt Lake City has significantly expanded the number of patients treated by burn experts through integration of telemedicine services. It’s also an appropriate and effective cost containment strategy; patients with less severe burns can be treated locally, while still seeing being treated by burn experts. The facility’s success was reported in the Deseret Morning News.
The advent of telemedicine in burn care allows patients the treatment they need, supporting examination of burns by experts. It also enables clinicians to clearly communicate the appropriate treatment regimen for local physicians caring for patients.
This piece is crucial, burn units are expensive facilities to run and require intense levels of patient care. Telemedicine for burn care offers a way to triage patients. This can reduce unnecessary spending to transport patients to a burn facility who do not require as intense treatment regimens.
Clinicians without significant expertise in burn management can miss the mark. Estimates of percentage of injury can vary upwards of 500 percent. Even relying on telemedicine to examine patients, burn physicians are accurate in assessment of injury.
The U. Burn center supports treatment for five states, a region encompassing almost 20 percent of the country. This approach may minimize the need to create burn centers at multiple facilities, but instead foster collaborative approaches.
June 27, 2007 Related topics: General Management & Administration, Surgery, Materials Management