By Jane Erikson on Oct 06, 2016
Ryan Casey, MD, is in his third-year of residency training in family and community medicine at Yuma Regional Medical Center, a 406-bed hospital less than 10 miles from the Mexican border in southwestern Arizona.
A man who holds citizenship in both Mexico and the U.S., Dr. Casey is committed to providing care to patients in both countries.
Amy Waer, MD, professor of surgery and associate dean for medical education at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, has taken on a new major responsibility, as medical director of the Arizona Telemedicine Program (ATP).
Her goal is to leverage all three roles to enhance medical education opportunities in rural Arizona.
“I especially like having the opportunity to use my position as associate dean to work with telemedicine and link the two together,” said Dr. Waer, who was named ATP medical director in June.
Physicians can sometimes be hesitant to begin hosting video visits because they are weary about just how effective the technology can be when treating patients. However once physicians begin hosting video visits they are often shocked at how versatile video technology can be as an additional tool to administering care. Following is a summary of some of the most intriguing use cases that I have observed from telehealth providers.
Yuma Regional Medical Center in Southwestern Arizona has been named one of the nation’s “Most Wired” hospitals – an award given annually by the American Hospital Association’s Health Forum.
It’s the second consecutive year the Yuma hospital has won the award.
“It is very, very satisfying to know that we have reached that milestone,” said Fred Peet, Yuma Regional’s chief information officer. “But we still recognize that there is always room for improvement, and we continue to look for opportunities to provide technology to assist in the care of our patients, so we can make their experience that much more enjoyable.”
Like many first-time users of new technology, clinicians taking part in an NIH-funded study to reduce asthma morbidity in elementary school children had some doubts.
But after several months of monitoring children from a distance, using 3M Littman Bluetooth stethoscopes, they were nearly 100 percent in favor of the new technology.
