Telemedicine Improves Rural Trauma Care

Researchers retrospectively evaluated the effect of implementing telemedicine at seven rural hospital emergency departments in Mississippi in conjunction with the state’s sole level I trauma center. During the telemedicine period, trauma patients at the rural hospitals were initially evaluated by a nurse practitioner with extended qualifications in advanced trauma life support. A telemedicine consult was initiated for a patient either at the nurse practitioner’s discretion or based on the presence of any of the following criteria: Glasgow Coma Scale score <13, systolic blood pressure <100 mm Hg, penetrating trauma, respiratory distress (respiratory rate >30), or limb amputation. Dual-video trauma consultation was accomplished through a T-1 …