A California health system that has only one full-time neurologist is getting help from a new robot that can connect team members with specialists 24/7.
Lompoc Valley Medical Center calls their new helper Dr. Robot. The 5-foot-tall device with a video screen for a head allows remote neurologists the ability to help examine patients and to participate in treatment decision making, according to a report from the Lompoc Record.
The robot is shared with Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and the facilities split the cost of the device.
A robot-based telemedicine system is also in use at Illinois-based Palos Community Hospital, which partners with specialists at Loyola University Medical Center for extra stoke care advice.
At LVMC, when a patient is brought in with a neurological problem, EMT services alert emergency room staff, according to the report. Those staff members conduct immediate testing while an off-site neurologist is contacted and Dr. Robot is set up.
The robot's display works over an encrypted connection and can examine the patient with special cameras that include zooming and audio features.
"I think it's really helpful to us as emergency room physicians to have the ability to talk to somebody else about these problems, instead of basically being by ourselves," Steven Reichel, M.D., medical director of the LVMC emergency room, told the Record. "Now we have somebody else who we can get information from, and that's their primary focus, to treat brain problems."
To learn more:
- here's the report