Telemedicine Takes Off
More and more inmates are being treated via telemedicine by physicians who never come close to a prison or jail.
Between 1997 and 2006, about 50,000 corrections agency inmates were seen by doctors via telemedicine. In the year ending June 2008, the patients numbered more than 16,000.
Doctors who treat inmates say telemedicine is a win-win because it’s easier on them and the patient, more cost-efficient for the prison system and provides a patient base for medical institutions. Transporting prisoners for outpatient visits costs taxpayers a lot of money and is logistically difficult, said Dr. Thomas Nesbitt, head of the UC Davis telemedicine program. Community providers near prisons can be backlogged, but with telemedicine, “patients don’t have to wait,” said Annie Brennan, who schedules telemedicine appointments for the prison system.
Telemedicine works this way:
Patients are brought into a room with a TV monitor and video camera. They see the doctor on-screen. The doctor, often hundreds of miles away, sees them the same way. The audio is clear and picks up sound well. The video is not incredibly sharp, but sufficient. When doctors require a clear and close image – to inspect a lesion on a patient’s skin, for example – they use special cameras that can magnify about 80 times. Alongside the patient is a “presenter,” usually a nurse, who serves as the hands of the doctor, using stethoscopes and other instruments that relay information directly to the physician. The presenter also provides the doctor with medical profiles and progress notes.
Doctors in the prison system said patient feedback has been positive.
“I’m pleasantly surprised with their lack of concern about not seeing a live doc,” said Dr. Dwight Winslow, prisons medical director. “Maybe they’re getting attention they previously weren’t given. Maybe they grew up with TVs and they accept it as the way business is done.”
More details from Sacramento Bee.
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