Webcams save lives in the ER

When you have a stroke, time is of the essence to determine what kind of treatment you need, and whether or not you should take additional life saving drugs. Doctors started using webcams a few years ago to see their patients and make those critical decisions when they can’t be in the ER. A new report published in The Lancet Neurology this month indicates that the webcams are making an improvement in patient care.

The first webcams hit the ER back in 2004. Doctors use the cameras to zoom in on patients’ eye and face muscles and decide whether they need further treatment post stroke. A lot of that further treatment needs to be administered within 3 hours of a patient actually having a stroke, so time is really of the essence.

Before web cams came to the ER doctors were talking to stroke victims, or their ER healthcare providers via telephone. According to an article in Wired, in those situations doctors were typically making the right decision 82% of the time. Now with webcams the success rate has jumped to 98%.

Ideally, I think everyone would prefer to have a doctor in the ER with them making those decisions; the webcam idea however is a reasonably good substitution for the real thing. It’s amazing how the success rate has jumped over the last 4 ears from 82% talking on the phone to 98% via webcam. That’s almost perfect.

It just goes to show you how technology as simple as a webcam could really save your life. Webcams can be used not only by recent stroke victims, but also by patients who want to do a consultation with a doctor who may be across the country, or even abroad.

So, what would you think about talking to your doctor via webcam? Would you feel comfortable accepting a medical diagnosis you got from a health care practitioner who wasn’t even in the hospital, or maybe even the country?

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