Sudbury Regional Hospital is making extensive use of the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN), both in communicating with and offering clinical examinations and diagnoses of patients in the region, and as a resource for specialists for, and from, other hospitals across the province.
“Because of northeastern Ontario’s geographic vastness we have become good at embracing innovation that helps close those distances,” said Sudbury Regional Hospital telemedicine co-ordinator Nancy Wilson RN, in a release.
“The OTN allows us to provide care to patients in their own communities, with the obvious benefits of patient comfort and system efficiency.”
OTN was formed when three telemedicine networks were integrated in April 2006 and officially launched later that year. OTN has 255 members, 484 sites locations, and 945 systems, making it the largest telemedicine network in the world. Since 2003/2004 OTN has seen a 600 per cent increase in the use of its clinical, education and administrative events.
Northern Ontario represents the largest percentage use of OTN in the province. The HRSRH accounts for 11 per cent of the activity, making it the busiest site in the network.
The Regional Cancer Program (RCP) clinical service is the largest single user of the system, with every oncologist at the RCP using telemedicine to communicate with patients across the region. The Memorial site has the largest number of specialists, cardiothoracic and vascular, providing care from one system across the network.
Through state of the art technology, physicians can listen to a patient’s heartbeat, conduct an ear examination, or investigate a skin lesion, among other things. The network also holds great advantages for clinical education, allowing busy clinicians to participate educational activities without the need for travel.
