Over a decade ago, it would have been hard to imagine visiting someone halfway across the world on your phone. The world is adapting to advancements in technology every single day including those in health care.
On Tuesday, media witnessed how one robot is revolutionizing care in a remote northern Saskatchewan community. This is part of a pilot project focused specifically on pediatric patients who live in Pelican Narrows for the last year.
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Little Gracie, as shown in the video above, is six hours away from Saskatoon but now has the same access to medical specialists and timely care with no travel required.
In 2014, the Government of Saskatchewan provided funding to Northern Medical Services to purchase equipment for the pilot project. The area was selected because of how remote it is and the large population of children.
According to the head of surgery at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S), Dr. Ivar Mendez, the technology used is known as remote presence technology and the province is pioneering the way.
At this point, there is no other centre in the entire country that is using this type of technology to put their patients first said Mendez.
“The pilot has gone, really beyond our expectations. The majority of the children, 63 per cent of them were able to be treated in their own community, they didn’t need to be transported.”
A total of 24 children stayed in the comfort of their own community at a saving to the system of $240,000 in transportation costs alone. Medical evidence has also shown that by initiating the right care sooner, a patient’s overall health outcome is usually better.
“We know that some of the greatest disparities in our province and in our nation occur even within our own backyard so this changes the game dramatically,” said Dr. McKinney, director of Northern Medical Services.
The team did question just how accurate real-time assessment, diagnosis and management of patients through a robot would be and if it would lead to any medical errors.
“What we found is that it was highly accurate and that we could reliably triage pediatric patients who were sick and predict whether they’ll need regional care, tertiary care or were we able to treat them at home in their community,” said Dr. Tanya Holt, with pediatric critical care at the U of S.
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The pilot project was so successful, the province announced Tuesday it would be committing another $500,000 to expand it.
Technology officials said that would be where the need is greatest but that it could eventually be used province-wide so that no matter where you are, you could receive specialized care within minutes – even seconds.
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