Submitted
PLAINVILLE – Rooks County Health Center has announced the addition of Avera eEmergency services. Open 24/7, the ER is equipped to handle any patient that comes through the door. However, in the most critical cases, the old adage, “two heads are better than one” can often be true. The new eEmergency service will provide that extra support to RCH’s clinicians when needed.
At the push of a button, local physicians and emergency room staff have immediate, virtual access to a team of physicians and nurses who specialize in emergency medicine.
Through HD videoconferencing, local clinicians will be able to get support for complex emergency cases, such as heart attack, stroke, respiratory distress or traumatic injury. The eEmergency team can virtually double the number of clinicians in the room.
“With really critical cases, we need to do a lot of things at the same time, while also stepping back to assess the big picture of what’s going on with the patient,” said Mike Sinclair, RCH CEO. “eEmergency can provide support by making transfer arrangements or completing paperwork so we can stay at the patient’s side. Avera’s experienced emergency physician can also help us think through the case and talk through what the next steps could be.”
The eEmergency service is also used for things like multi-victim car accidents, pediatric traumas and poisonings. In these kinds of cases, the eEmergency team can help arrange for a transfer, order a helicopter and contact the receiving hospital if needed. This can save precious time in cases where every minute counts.
“eEmergency gives us the ability to extend and enhance the level of health care in our community,” said Sinclair. “It gives us access to the same type of specialists available in metropolitan areas, enabling us to deliver better care, right here in our community, and keep patients here whenever possible.”
Other communities have reported that transfers to other cities have been reduced because of eEmergency. “In about 25 percent of the cases we see, we can avoid a transfer,” said Jay Weems, Vice President of eCARE Operations.
eEmergency supports patient care in several ways:
Immediate availability of physician-led emergency care, 24 hours a day
Streamlined access to specialists
Activation of emergency transport teams as early as possible
Support when the local facility experiences multiple emergency cases at once
Fewer unnecessary transfers
Since 2004, the nonprofit Avera eCARE, based in Sioux Falls, S.D., has worked to connect the vast knowledge of specialists to patients in rural areas who don’t have these services close by. Avera eCARE offers one of the largest telehealth networks in the United States, supporting more than 225 health centers, clinics, long-term care centers and correctional facilities within an eight-state region. This virtual service supports the local health care workforce by improving retention and recruitment in rural areas.
“eCARE offers a win-win for both patients and their families and the health care facilities providing care. In all our services, we are working to help patients get better faster without having to travel to a larger facility,” Weems said. “At the same time, we can be a helping hand to the clinicians that choose to practice in rural medicine – often as the only on-call provider in the community.”
The Kansas Heart & Stroke Collaborative is funding RCH’s Avera eEmergency project through a three year grant with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to improve outcomes for rural patients experiencing strokes and/or heart attacks.