Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Sacred Heart Uses Telemedicine to Extend Maternity Expertise
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Sacred Heart Women’s Hospital is extending its expertise in managing high risk pregnancies into the Florida Panhandle thanks to advances in telemedicine technology.
Telemedicine equipment allows pregnant women in Okaloosa, Walton, Holmes, Washington and Bay counties to receive expert care from Sacred Heart’s Regional Perinatal Center without having to travel to Pensacola.
 “We wanted to expand the regional availability of our services and improve birth outcomes in Northwest Florida, while allowing patients to get expert prenatal care closer to home,” said Dr. James Thorp, a specialist in maternal fetal medicine and medical director of the Regional Perinatal Center.
Here’s how it works: Twice a month, a nurse practitioner, a genetics counselor, a program coordinator and an ultrasound sonographer from the Regional Perinatal Center in Pensacola travel to Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast in Walton County. There, the nurse practitioner performs a physical examination of patient referred to the Perinatal Center by their primary obstetrician. The patient can have a private consultation with a genetics counselor, and the sonographer performs a high quality ultrasound scan of the mother’s womb to monitor fetal development.
Using high speed lines at the hospital, the digital ultrasound images are transmitted to Sacred Heart in Pensacola, where they are evaluated by Dr. Thorp. The final piece of telemedicine is the use of teleconferencing equipment to establish an audio and video link between the clinic and Dr. Thorp, allowing him to see the patient and converse with her.
“This innovative approach to doing a ‘virtual office visit’ has allowed us to extend our services to underserved rural areas of Northwest Florida that do not have a physician specializing in high risk pregnancy,” said Elisabeth Allerellie, nurse coordinator of the telemedicine clinic. “This makes better use of Dr. Thorp’s time in that he does not spend half of the day driving in a car to see patients in Walton County or Bay County. Now he can see and talk to the patient, and diagnose their ultrasound scans, without having to leave Pensacola. It also means patients and their families can save time and money by avoiding a long trip to Pensacola.”
Since there is a critical shortage of Matenal-Fetal Medicine specialists throughout the United States, the telemedicine clinic will allow the Regional Perinatal Center to provide these services to the most needy areas. Ongoing clinical research is planned to monitor the cost, feasibility, and patient satisfaction as Sacred Heart expand these services
Sacred Heart’s Regional Perinatal Center is already working on plans to locate a similar telemedicine clinic to Crestview in 2007, and another clinic in Port St. Joe in 2008.
Sacred Heart is one of 11 hospitals in Florida designated by the state as a Regional Perinatal Intensive Care Center (RPICC). Since 1974, the state’s RPICC program has improved outcomes for women with high-risk pregnancies and improved care to sick or pre-term newborns by providing a full range of specialized services and ongoing care.
Studies have found that outcomes for high-risk pregnancies can be improved through continuous specialized care to pregnant women with major medical or maternal conditions that puts their pregnancy at risk or their newborn at risk for disease, death or disability. At Sacred Heart, RPICC services include specialized prenatal care in a high-risk pregnancy clinic and at Sacred Heart Women’s Hospital, where obstetricians and nurses with specialized training in maternal-fetal medicine manage the pregnancies and deliveries of high-risk mothers. The second component of the program – neonatal care for very sick or premature newborns -- is provided by Sacred Heart’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
For more information on Sacred Heart’s Regional Perinatal Center, call (850) 416-2477.
;###
|
|
