One knock on technology is that it moves us away from making personal connections with people in our lives or communities. In many ways it’s true.  Think about the time you spend on social media sites instead of actually paying a visit to a friend or family member.  Similarly, how many times do you see people using cell phones in public places completely unaware of their physical surroundings?

A Knock on the Door

In medicine, physicians used to make house calls.  They’d travel the community visiting folks who could not make it into the office for an appointment. Unfortunately due to a lack of healthcare providers this isn’t really possible today.

However, now technology can bring people together.

Consider this story I recently heard. There was a quadriplegic rehabilitation patient who lived nearly three hours away from the only specialist in the state that could provide treatment.  The patient was not able to travel to the healthcare provider so the healthcare provider had to come to him.

Hearing this, a nurse practiced in Telemedicine, took it upon herself to deliver a clinical Telemedicine cart to a health center in the patient’s area of the state.  The RN also coordinated with the physician to have a video unit delivered to his office.  The patient was able to connect with the physician via a live video connection!

Knock it out of the Park

After the exam several good things happened:

Now, luckily I live in a state that benefits from a well designed infrastructure that helped make this encounter possible.  But, it was the tenacity of the providers and their commitment to bring healthcare to medically underserved areas that truly made it happen.   This tenacity and commitment is what motivated doctors to make those house calls years ago.

By Terri Imus, RN, LNC

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