Telemedicine, the provision of health care by means of telecommunications and information technology, is a reality in Ontario. In the fiscal year 2012-13, more than 300,000 patients received care through telemedicine, a 51% increase over 2011-12.
From April 1998, when Ontario’s first telemedicine sites launched at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Timmins and District, Kirkland and District and the then Lady Minto hospitals, OTN has grown to more than 100 sites across the province. Geography has been eliminated as a barrier for many patients in Ontario.
An Introduction to Telemedicine
What telemedicine practitioners who have shared their clinical experiences with me helped me realized is that “telemedicine is not a service - it is an experience.” Practitioners need to experience it first hand to truly understand how it works and the benefits - for them and their patients.
What telemedicine practitioners who have shared their clinical experiences with me helped me realized is that 'telemedicine is not a service - it is an experience.'
Sudbury’s Northeast Cancer Centre (NCC) provides one of my favourite examples of just what that experience actually is. Prior to adopting telemedicine, many frail and ill cancer patients from Northeastern Ontario travelled to Sudbury for care. The NCC oncologists also traveled through the region, primarily providing follow-up care.
Travelling stressed uncomplicated follow-up patients who often had short visits with the oncologist to review results and plan ongoing care. Telemedicine improved the patient experience.
Oncologists visiting distant sites had little time to see new patients and follow-up patients with complications. Seeing uncomplicated follow-up patients by telemedicine enabled the oncologists to spend more time with the right patients while travelling.
Use of Telemedicine at the NCC began with a single oncologist. Now, all the Centre’s oncologists use it. The outpatient clinic has three full studios alongside their examining rooms and oncologists see virtual and in-person patients during the same clinic.
To maximize the benefits of telemedicine for patients, OTN worked with NCC to redesign their triage system. Based on specific criteria, three categories of patients were identified:
- Local patients visiting the Cancer Centre for their in-person appointments.
- Patients from outside Sudbury requiring follow-up care by videoconference.
- Patients from outside Sudbury requiring in-person care either in their home community or in Sudbury.
All patients in category 2 are offered telemedicine appointments.
Stay tuned for my next posting when I’ll review more examples of telemedicine in action.
This post is a modified excerpt from the whitepaper Telemedicine in Ontario: Fact not Fiction.
