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It's like Gilligan's Island. . .with EHRs
EHR Connection, November 26, 2007
Located more than 1,665 miles west of Cape Town, South Africa, and accessible only by a boat trip lasting a week or more, Tristan da Cunha is the world's most remote inhabited island-but its 270 residents recently began enjoying the benefits of modern medical technology via telemedical care, according to a November 14 CNNMoney.com article.
Until recently, Dr. Carel Van der Merwe, the island's only physician, had access to minimal technology and limited medical support at a hospital that didn't even have its own telephone, according to the article. The lack of a communication system that could accept e-mail attachments hindered his ability to obtain help in interpreting x-rays or electrocardiograms, so he depended on digital images-scanned, printed, and faxed to specialists thousands of miles away. With no airstrip on the island, emergency evacuation and outside medical intervention have been, and remain, virtually impossible.
Project Tristan, with assistance from IBM, Beacon Equity Partners, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, catapulted the island into the twenty-first century, medically speaking. A high technology team implemented a solution consisting of medical equipment, satellite communications, and remotely supported EHR technology that allows medical experts worldwide to assist island clinicians with diagnoses and emergency support, the article said. Satellite communications make diagnostic advice and treatment suggestions available in real time.
Team members' contributions include Medweb servers, EHR software, medical input devices such as a computed radiography system for digital x-ray, integration of electrocardiograms, digital cameras, spirometry and video conferencing abilities, reliable access to comprehensive multimedia medical data on island patients, and remote installation, training, and sustained services including technical and help desk services on a continuing basis.
Edward Mullen, chairman of Beacon Equity Partners, and Paul Grundy, MD, MPH, director of healthcare technology and strategic initiatives at IBM, developed Project Tristan as a way to honor the memory of their close friend, Thomas Wiese, "who was lost to cancer in 2006 after a lifetime of helping others," the article said.
Click here to read the CNNMoney.com article.
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