Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth Expands Telemedicine to First College Campus in Georgia
Waycross, GA – (February 11, 2015) - Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth (GPT), a charitable nonprofit promoting the establishment of telemedicine programs in communities throughout Georgia, announces its newest partner, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC), a State College of the University System of Georgia located in Tifton. ABAC will be the first college campus in Georgia to house a telemedicine clinic in addition to their existing campus health clinics and further strengthens GPT's telemedicine network within the state. Tift Regional Hospital is also very invested in the program as the ABAC's primary partner. Tift Regional and ABAC recognized the importance of telemedicine for ABAC's students as well as ABAC's School of Nursing & Health Sciences nursing program curriculum.
The new telemedicine clinic allows students to see a physician at partnering Tift Regional Medical Center when the college's nurse practitioner is not available on campus. The program will also give the clinic nurse the opportunity to present students for specialty care appointments. The next phase of the telemedicine clinic will incorporate telemental health into the student services and counseling centers and give students access to psychiatrists in GPT's extensive network.
"This technology will mean a lot for our counselors on campus," says Tammy Carter, ABAC's rural studies professor and a key advocate for creating the program on campus. "With students, you can recognize a problem and refer that student to a psychiatrist or specialist, but they may not have the ability to get to that doctor. The new telemedicine program at ABAC will allow the continuity of care and medication management if needed."
The introduction of telemedicine into the nursing school curriculum will provide enhanced clinical experiences to students by connecting them with real patients at Tift Regional Medical Center via new skills lab equipment. Students will also be able to use the equipment to broaden their telemedicine training with guest lectures and webinars. Upon graduation from the nursing program, each student will be a certified telehealth presenter.
"If you want to talk about serendipity and things happening for a reason, this telemedicine project would be it," states Troy Spicer, Dean of ABAC's School of Nursing & Health Sciences. "Tammy was leading a rural studies call and asked Loren Nix from GPT to come in to talk to the students about telemedicine. After the class ended I overheard Loren discussing with Tammy having telemedicine at ABAC and in the nursing program. That conversation lead to the groundbreaking things we are doing with GPT at ABAC today. Our program is in its infancy stage and is already the first of its kind in the state. With a little more time and minimal effort, I know this program could change the lives of students and the learning environment even more than it already has."
If you are interested in learning more about bringing telemedicine to your college or university, please reach out the Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth at 1-866-754-4325.
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About Georgia Partnership for Telehealth
Georgia Partnership for TeleHealth is a charitable nonprofit corporation, which was formed to promote improvements in healthcare and healthcare facilities in communities by assisting in the establishment of telemedicine programs. GPT is known as the leading agency globally focusing on increasing access to healthcare through innovative use of technology. GPT is one of the entities that belong to the Global Partnership for TeleHealth.
The mission of the Global Partnership for TeleHealth is to deliver worldwide access to healthcare. Our unparalleled success in the United States in applying telehealth programs and services has assisted agencies in providing cost effective, efficient, and high quality healthcare. For more information visit the GPT website at http://www.gatelehealth.org.