On Thursday 08 February 2007 15:22, John Mackenzie wrote: > My proposal is to use these technologies for the mission critical > task of providing after hours care to rural hopitals/ communities > from "call centres" staffed by suitably experienced GPs. > > My medical experience tells me that this will work and lift/ lighten > the great burden of after hours care off rural GPs.
Your proposal might help in some areas. My main concern as rural GP 5/7 on call is not so much the on call load (which is manageable in my area thanks to effective, skilled and determined triage nurses - but the fact that I am tied to a place which I cannot leave eg to watch a movie, go to a restaurant, a CME event, snorkelling etc. Telemedicine woudl not liberate me - but under current policies it might deprive me of a great deal of income (shameful thought that this has to be taken into consideration). If I am woken up to watch a patient on the screen or whether I actually see the patient, makes absolutely no difference to me. But if I have a problem patient and can get instant telemedical help from more experienced /specialized colleagues at tertiary institutions any time of the day, now THAT makes a huge difference - as I experienced in Norway The later implies that we need teelmedical equpment anyway. If some places can use them to lessen the on call burden, it's a bonus It is really sad that one of the OECD countries with the greates need for telemedicine has in fact one of the least implementation rates - we are a telemedical backwater same as we remain an internet backwater Horst _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
