 |
International Physician Update
Videoconferencing: A New Tool for Medical Exchange
 |
|
| In the USA, Hopkins internist John Flynn and telemedicine manager Alex Nason videoconference with Drs. Claude de Senarclens and Alain Pernet at Hôpital de La Tour in Geneva, Switzerland. |
|
| |
|
As colleagues around the globe do every day, internists John Flynn and Claude de Senarclens are meeting today to exchange opinions on a complex autoimmune case.
This would be nothing special were it not for the fact that Flynn from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland, and de Senarclens from Hôpital de La Tour in Geneva, Switzerland, are 6,500 km apart. Thanks to a technology that is quickly becoming more accessible and economical, these two physicians have been “meeting” twice a month with their colleagues Don Martin from Hopkins and Alain Pernet from de La Tour to discuss complex cases.
“This technology brings the diagnostic and therapeutic expertise of Johns Hopkins faculty, who are extensively involved in clinical care and physician education, to the care of international patients,” says Flynn. “Thanks to our regular opinions from Dr. Flynn and Dr. Martin, we are able to provide our patients with high-quality solutions,” adds de Senarclens.
Other videoconferencing projects, says Alexander Nason, senior manager of telemedicine for Johns Hopkins International, include a collaboration with Medical Missions for Children, a non-profit group that peer reviews complex pediatric cases in developing nations. “These electronic medical rounds not only benefit the particular child, but provide an educational opportunity for physicians and nurses,” says Nason.
Another success story, the GlobalAccess Lecture Series, gives physicians worldwide the opportunity to interact in real time with their Hopkins colleagues. Each 60-minute program includes lectures and a question and answer session. Already, Johns Hopkins International has arranged GlobalAccess video-lectures with physician groups in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.
The GlobalAccess Lecture Series, which includes topics in nursing and hospital management, can be viewed at www.jhintl.net/JHI/English/Doctors . For more information regarding telemedicine programs, email Alexander Nason at projects@jhmi.edu.
|
|
|
