Study: Telemedicine can help when disaster strikes
Voice and data linkages in a telemedicine system permit services to be provided remotely, potentially increasing both the speed and the capacity of medical response and make it available when and where it is needed. Thus, in a disaster situation, a regional telemedicine hub that links a central “command center” with a network of clinical experts may expedite disaster response and improve patient outcomes, according to a study in the Journal of Medical Systems.
Based on the observed value of telemedicine capabilities for disaster management, many in the emergency medicine and preparedness community believe that more advanced telemedicine systems will greatly facilitate disaster response, according to the paper, titled “Implementing Telemedicine in Medical Emergency Response: Concept of Operation for a Regional Telemedicine Hub.”
To test this, authors Wei Xiong, Aaron Bair, Christian Sandrock, Sophia Wang, Javeed Siddiqui and Nathaniel Hupert generated a model of the application of telemedicine to disaster response.
The model was designed to evaluate operations for a regional telemedicine hub, “which would create distributed surge capacity using regional telemedicine networks connecting available healthcare and telemedicine infrastructures to external expertise,” the authors wrote.
The JMS study presented quantitative results of a simulation study testing the concept of a telemedicine hub for patient treatment during the acute phase of emergency response in a variety of disaster scenarios. The researchers developed a model that is generally applicable to the design and function of telemedicine systems for disaster response, they said.
The model had several limitations. Among them is the fact that the simulation is an analytical tool and not a tool for optimization. It can be used to evaluate the performance of alternatives in various scenarios, but it can’t directly provide a solution, or suggest a policy, that can be used to guide the operations and routing directions within the process, the authors warned.
However, the model also showed that “existing telemedicine technology can be applied to current disaster response activities to enhance surge capacity of the healthcare system and the speed and effectiveness of medical response, to facilitate communications and improve resource and operations planning, and to increase situational awareness within the command and control system and overall community,” they wrote.
Study results suggest that a telemedicine-enhanced strategy of locally managing disaster victims may improve the coordination of resources between the receiving center and peripheral treatment facilities, resulting in better health outcomes, according to the authors.
“With essentially the same resources … health outcomes are typically better when telemedicine is used in disaster scenarios of various scales,” they concluded. “We believe the proposed [telemedicine hub] model provides a useful planning and training platform for regional disaster response preparations.”
Based on the observed value of telemedicine capabilities for disaster management, many in the emergency medicine and preparedness community believe that more advanced telemedicine systems will greatly facilitate disaster response, according to the paper, titled “Implementing Telemedicine in Medical Emergency Response: Concept of Operation for a Regional Telemedicine Hub.”
To test this, authors Wei Xiong, Aaron Bair, Christian Sandrock, Sophia Wang, Javeed Siddiqui and Nathaniel Hupert generated a model of the application of telemedicine to disaster response.
The model was designed to evaluate operations for a regional telemedicine hub, “which would create distributed surge capacity using regional telemedicine networks connecting available healthcare and telemedicine infrastructures to external expertise,” the authors wrote.
The JMS study presented quantitative results of a simulation study testing the concept of a telemedicine hub for patient treatment during the acute phase of emergency response in a variety of disaster scenarios. The researchers developed a model that is generally applicable to the design and function of telemedicine systems for disaster response, they said.
The model had several limitations. Among them is the fact that the simulation is an analytical tool and not a tool for optimization. It can be used to evaluate the performance of alternatives in various scenarios, but it can’t directly provide a solution, or suggest a policy, that can be used to guide the operations and routing directions within the process, the authors warned.
However, the model also showed that “existing telemedicine technology can be applied to current disaster response activities to enhance surge capacity of the healthcare system and the speed and effectiveness of medical response, to facilitate communications and improve resource and operations planning, and to increase situational awareness within the command and control system and overall community,” they wrote.
Study results suggest that a telemedicine-enhanced strategy of locally managing disaster victims may improve the coordination of resources between the receiving center and peripheral treatment facilities, resulting in better health outcomes, according to the authors.
“With essentially the same resources … health outcomes are typically better when telemedicine is used in disaster scenarios of various scales,” they concluded. “We believe the proposed [telemedicine hub] model provides a useful planning and training platform for regional disaster response preparations.”