Telemedicine To The Rescue
May 4, 2006
Wanda Littrell was devastated when she found out that her premature son would have to spend three months in the hospital neonatal intensive care unit. When the staff explained to her that an Internet camera would allow her to see her new baby 24 hours day she breathed a sigh of relief.
Web technology is nothing short of a godsend for the parents of premature infants who require extended hospital stays. Some hospitals are using Internet technology to keep worried parents in touch with their child without having to spend every second at the hospital.
Anxious parents are given laptops so they can see their child via web camera any time they like. This technology also allows parents to remain in close contact with the medical staff. Hopefully, this technology will continue to expand so that the thousands of couples who have premature babies each year can have some peace of mind.
For many parents of preemies, parenting means literally running between home, work and the hospital. The joys of bonding with their newborn are overshadowed by their anxiety as well as the challenge of trying to decode the medical explanations given to them by the medical staff.
Parents have access to a secure web site that gives them frequent updates of their baby’s progress as well as reliable information on treatment and medicine. There is also a regularly updated photo album to which family and friends with the security code have easy access.
There is ample evidence to suggest that lowering the anxiety of level of parents can boost the chances of a speedier recovery for the newborn. When the mother's stress level is high, the baby automatically responds to that. A calm collected mom will have a soothing effect on her infant. This technology can help parents stay calmer because they are always in touch with their baby via the web cam.
This is called telemedicine and medical professionals contend that it allows high tech to become high touch. The hope is that this technology will enable parents to develop a stronger bond with newborns who will be in the hospital for an extended period of time.
Aside from the emotional benefits, telemedicine also has strong clinical applications as well. Telemedicine can easily and quickly bring together sub specialists with expertise in very specific health conditions. Well-designed telemedicine programs will continue to play a key role in the integrated health care delivery system.
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