OSU Mobile Telemedicine Clinic ready to roll
Friday, March 2, 2007
“When time and distance are issues in health care, OSU has the solution,” said Michael
Young, director of telemedicine at OSU Center for Health Sciences.
This month general cardiology screening begins in Okmulgee and an internal medicine
clinic serving a wide range of patient needs starts in Poteau.
The mobile clinic will be at the Tulsa Zoo’s Be Wise Immunize event Saturday, April
28. “This is our first planned community site visit and we will help with immunizations
for children,” Young added.
With its exam room and telemedicine capabilities, the mobile clinic serves as a clinic
for family medicine and specialty procedures, an emergency room, and a disaster recovery
facility.
When the telemedicine clinic comes to a rural Oklahoma community to assist at a clinic
or hospital, it provides communications technology, staffing and exam space. Using
the telemedicine and distance learning networks, it connects with facilities and physicians
to provide general and specialty care, specialty procedures and screenings. Rural
hospitals and clinics can offer their patients care from specialists in distant offices,
no travel required. The mobile clinic brings services to locations that cannot support
full-time specialty care, making it possible for patients to get the care they need
without leaving home.
The clinic is operational within minutes of arrival, and operates for approximately
13 hours without refueling. Satellite, cellular and landline communications all are
available.
Young said additional applications are planned. “We are putting together a proposal
to go directly to nursing homes to see patients for whatever they need. In the future,
the clinic plans to use an advanced electronic medical record that allows it to virtually
connect the mobile clinic with any physician providing care on our network, as if
they were in the same clinic,” he said.
About OSU Medicine
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa, Okla., offers programs
in osteopathic medicine, biomedical sciences and forensic sciences, with an emphasis
on preparing physicians for rural and under-served Oklahoma. The OSU College of Osteopathic
Medicine has been nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top
medical schools in the nation for the past six years. OSU operates six clinics, five
in Tulsa and one in Enid. More information about OSU Center for Health Sciences is
available at www.healthsciences.okstate.edu.