When a severe summer storm left CHRISTUS Mother Frances Hospital – Winnsboro in rural East Texas without electricity for five days, telemedicine revealed itself to be an unexpected source of power.
The Winnsboro hospital has been an Access TeleCare partner since 2017 and operates teleHospitalist, teleCardiology, teleNeurology, and telePulmonary and Critical Care programs.
With the devastating storm and subsequent power outage, Winnsboro patients had to be transferred to another facility to continue receiving needed care. Ordinarily, transferred patients are admitted and cared for by new physicians and clinicians at the accepting facility. The transfer, while essential, can disrupt care continuity and require duplication of testing and patient history documentation.
How Telemedicine Makes a Difference
In this case, however, the hospital in Sulphur Springs, about 25 miles away, also partners with Access TeleCare, operating neurology, hospitalist, pulmonary and critical care, and infectious disease programs all via telemedicine. The Sulphur Springs hospital was able to accept the Winnsboro patients and seamlessly continue their care with their original care teams thanks to the continuity provided by the telemedicine technology and specialists.
“It was a wild week in East Texas, even by Texas standards,” said Lauren Ingram, national director of advanced practice providers, Access TeleCare. “But the saving grace was the consistency and reliability of the Access TeleCare technology and team. The transferred patients saw the same doctors and followed the same treatment plan; they were just in a different hospital. The physicians followed the patients with the telemedicine cart.”
With the flexibility, functionality, and consistency of specialty telemedicine, transferred patients received uninterrupted, consistent care.
Contact us to learn more about Access TeleCare’s telemedicine programs.
