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Use of telemedicine for children with special health care needs
W B Karp1, R K Grigsby, M McSwiggan-Hardin
1Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912, USA. wkarp@mail.mcg.edu
Insights
Telemedicine effectively provided pediatric subspecialty care to rural children with special health needs. Physician attitudes improved with experience, indicating telemedicine
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Subspecialty Care
- Telemedicine Applications
- Health Services Delivery
Background:
- Children's Medical Services (CMS) partnered with Medical College of Georgia (MCG) to establish telemedicine for rural pediatric subspecialty care.
- This initiative aimed to address healthcare access challenges for children with special health care needs in remote areas.
- The project focused on evaluating patient satisfaction and physician attitudes towards telemedicine.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the feasibility and effectiveness of telemedicine for delivering pediatric subspecialty consultations.
- To evaluate patient satisfaction with telemedicine services.
- To examine physician faculty attitudes towards telemedicine before and after project implementation.
Main Methods:
- A demonstration project utilized telemedicine to connect a tertiary center with a rural clinic.
- Data collected from December 1995 to May 1997 included 333 Children's Medical Services (CMS) telemedicine consultations.
- Patient satisfaction and physician faculty attitudes were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Pediatric allergy/immunology (35%), pulmonology (29%), neurology (19%), and genetics (16%) were the most common subspecialties consulted.
- Patients reported overall satisfaction with the telemedicine services.
- Physician attitudes became more positive with increased telemedicine use (r=.30), with 28% more positive after a year.
Conclusions:
- Telemedicine is an acceptable method for delivering pediatric subspecialty consultations to rural children with special health care needs.
- Successful telemedicine integration into broader health services delivery is more effective than sole reliance on this modality.
- The study highlights telemedicine's value in improving access to specialized pediatric care.
Objective:
In 1995, the Children's Medical Services (CMS) of the State of Georgia contracted with the Department of Pediatrics of the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) and the MCG Telemedicine Center to develop telemedicine programs to provide subspecialty care for children with special health care needs. This article presents project statistics and results of client evaluation of services, as well as physician faculty attitudes toward telemedicine.
Design:
A demonstration project using telemedicine between a tertiary center and a rural clinic serving children with special health care needs was established. Data were collected and analyzed for December 12, 1995 to May 31, 1997, during which 333 CMS telemedicine consultations were performed.
Results:
Most CMS telemedicine consultations (35%) involved pediatric allergy/immunology. Other subspecialties included pulmonology (29%), neurology (19%), and genetics (16%). Overall, patients were satisfied with the services received. Initially, physician faculty members were generally positive but conservative in their attitudes toward using telemedicine for delivering clinical consultation. After a year's exposure and/or experience with telemedicine, 28% were more positive, 66% were the same, and only 4% were more negative about telemedicine. The more physicians used telemedicine, the more positive they were about it (r =.30).
Conclusions:
In terms of family attitudes and individual care, telemedicine is an acceptable means of delivering specific pediatric subspecialty consultation services to children with special health care needs, living in rural areas distant to tertiary centers. Telemedicine is more likely to be successful as part of an integrated health services delivery than when it is the sole mode used for delivery of care.
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