Ontario physicians interested in seeing patients via videoconference from the comfort of their own offices could be able to do so as early as next year. A new personal telemedicine service currently being piloted by the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) will drastically reduce the cost of acquiring videoconference capability, said Laurie Poole, the OTN’s vice-president of telemedicine solutions.
The service will operate much like Skype, but with higher quality. There will be no pricey equipment required and no need for an OTN router or the use of the OTN’s own network. Physicians will simply have to download some software to their computer and buy a webcam. Calls will be made using the physician’s own Internet service provider and will meet all privacy and security requirements.
“It’s very exciting because it’s a lot less expensive and much easier to deploy,” said Poole.
Ontario’s world-class telemedicine network is rapidly expanding beyond the traditional institutional settings. Currently some 30 specialists in Ontario, including several in the North, have conventional telemedicine studios in their offices courtesy of the OTN.
Dr. Nav Mehta, a Sudbury nephrologist, used to use a telemedicine studio at Sudbury Regional Hospital before the OTN offered him a studio for his own use three years ago. Mehta estimates that he performs approximately 600 videoconference consults per year with patients receiving dialysis services at satellite units in Cochrane, Kapuskasing, Hearst and Parry Sound.
“It saves time for the doctor and the patients,” said Mehta. “ I still have to travel for the procedural-type appointments, but it has cut down on the amount of travel for all parties concerned. I used to go out every six weeks. I don’t have to do that anymore.”
A nurse at the remote site weighs and takes the patient’s blood pressure. Mehta can listen to a patient’s lungs and zoom in on a part of the body he wants to examine by using peripheral devices such as stethoscopes and special cameras connected to the videoconference equipment.
Dr. Steven Bodley, an anesthesiologist in North Bay, is also happy to have a personal telemedicine studio in his office. Bodley operates a pain clinic at North Bay General Hospital two days a week and has patients from all over northeastern Ontario. They have to drive in to North Bay for the nerve block injections he administers, but Bodley is able to do follow-up consultations via videoconference.
“It’s great for patients from Timmins, for example, who would otherwise have to travel all the way to North Bay for a five-minute appointment,” he said. “The patients love it.”
Dr. Sharon Laval, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Timmins, received a telemedicine studio from the OTN in May and uses it for approximately 30 follow-up consultations every month, seeing patients from as far away as the James Bay Coast.
“If it’s snowing and the roads are icy, you don’t have to worry about skidding off the road or hitting a moose,” said Laval. Videoconference consultations are also ideal for patients who don’t have a vehicle or can’t afford to make the trip into Timmins, she added.
Laval used to leave her home office and drive to Timmins and District Hospital to use the videoconference facilities there prior to receiving her own system. n
