Technology makes house calls

Brian Foster Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona Telemedicine Program administrator Sandy Beinar demonstrates some capabilities of telemedicine yesterday at the UA Health Sciences Center. The demonstration was part of a technology awareness conference on telemedicine and tele-education.

"Telemedicine has enriched the practice of medicine," said Dr. Scott Budd, director of telemedicine at the Mariposa Community Health Center in Nogales, Ariz.

Budd was one of the many medical professionals who spoke yesterday at the "Technology Awareness Conference on Telemedicine and Tele-education," hosted by the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center.

Telemedicine involves using interactive video equipment, computers, modem connections and high-tech cable connections to transfer data and meet with the patient. The technology benefits people in rural areas and prison facilities.

"Our (Arizona Telemedicine Program) charge is to get telemedicine into rural areas," said Sandy Beinar, an Arizona Telemedicine Program administrator.

Through the $5,000 personal telemedicine system's monitor, patients can see doctors and engage in conversation.

The terminal, about the size of a keyboard, can take the patients' vital signs and relay results to a medical professional. The system's high-resolution camera is equipped with a close-up lens that can read the small type on prescription labels.

A home health care nurse is typically able to physically make three rural visits a day, but with home video teleconferencing, the nurse can see 17 patients a day, said Dr. Richard McNeely, co-director of the Arizona Telemedicine Program.

The program benefits elderly patients unable to make numerous visits to their primary physicians.

"The patients are going to save a lot of hassle with these kind of services, too," McNeely said. "If you've ever been around an elderly patient and had to transport them in for a weekly checkup, there is a lot of wear and tear on the patient."

Telemedicine will never replace physicians because of emotional and spiritual components a machine cannot handle, McNeely said. But when a nurse does not have to accompany a physician for hands-on care, telemedicine saves money, he said.

The Arizona Health Science Center physicians have seen 129 patients using telemedicine. Of those cases, 60 percent were seen within an hour and the majority within 24 hours.

Budd is using telemedicine so his Nogales patients do not have to drive to Tucson to see a medical specialist.

He said telemedicine benefits low-income patients because they do not have to miss work.

Video conferencing allows diagnoses and treatment plans to be immediately available, Budd said.

University Medical Center's telemedical center was up and running in July. It has $150,000 worth of equipment, including x-ray scanners, video terminals, a big screen monitor and a cable able to transfer large amounts of data.

The Arizona Legislature gave UMC the facility idea and money to fund eight sites. The prison system was one of the sites the Legislature included in the agreement.

Thomas Lutz, deputy director of inmate health services division of the Arizona Department of Corrections, said telemedicine can diagnose a patient without risking the prisoner's escape.

"Education is what it is about," he said. "The future is what it is about."