The Peace Country Health Region (PCH) recently upgraded all of their videoconferencing systems to high definition (HD).
"Working in HD allows doctors to communicate better with their patients." said Niel Cameron, PCH Telehealth Technician. "HD improves the quality of the videoconference, allowing the doctor to closely monitor a patient's reaction during their session."
Before the advent of telehealth, patients would routinely travel 450 kilometres to Edmonton for an appointment with a specialist. A short follow up appointment would require that the patient travel for 9 hours at their own expense! Now a patient can often go to one of PCH's telehealth locations in one of the regional communities and meet with their Edmonton (or elsewhere) doctor via telehealth.
"The PCH telehealth systems are very well used with over 1200 hours of telehealth logged every month by the PCH." reported Cameron. The systems are also used by doctors who attend professional development courses (PD) that are delivered by telehealth. This delivery system enables the doctors to receive their continuing education while staying in their area so that they are able to spend more time with their patients rather than traveling into Edmonton or Calgary for their PD. Administrative meetings can be held via videoconferencing, once again cutting down on travel time and expense.
The upgrade to HD was driven by Sean O'Neill, Regional Manager, Information Management and Technical Services. The timing of the upgrade and addition of more systems (currently a total of 35 systems) was perfect. The existing systems had reached the end of their life cycle and new funding was made available through Alberta Health and Wellness, Canada Health Infoway and PCH budgets.
The PCR telehealth team provides easier access to specialized care for the residents in the regional communities they serve.
Inland AV is proud to be a part of their success.
Back to Inland Broadcaster index page
