Overview
Grants Overview
VERMONT, Chittenden County
Pediatric Teletrauma Project
The University of Vermont (UVM)
CMP FY 02, 04
University of Vermont College of Medicine
89 Beaumont Avenue
Burlington, VT 05405
www.fahc.org/telemedicine
William Charash, MD, PD
Terry Rabinowitz, MD
Ph: 802-847-2112
Fax: 802-847-3090
Email: Terry.rabinowitz@vtmednet.org
Network Partners:
The teletrauma portion of the program has been operational since 1999. Currently includes Fletcher Allen Health Care (level 1 trauma center), Porter Hospital, Rutland Regional Hospital in VT and Alice Hyde Hospital, Massena Memorial, Canton-Potsdam Hospital, Adirondack Medical Ctr. and Moses Ludington Hospital in NY. This project added Copley Hospital and Northwestern Regional Medical Center, both located in Vermont.
Project Purpose:
Both adults and children in rural communities die at nearly twice the rate of their urban counterparts from motor vehicle accidents, homicides, falls, and suicides. This is partially due to discrepancies in access to care at specialized trauma centers. Use a two-way interactive video telemedicine link between our Level 1 trauma center, trauma surgeons' homes and rural hospital EDs, to reduce disparities in clinical trauma care by providing 24-hour access to trauma center specialty surgeons and pediatric intensivists.
Outcomes Expected/Project Accomplishments:
Compare the impact of teletrauma upon survival, complications, length of stay and injury severity of the teletrauma patients vs. general trauma population using data from the FAHC Trauma Registry and from the Teletrauma Evaluation Form. This form collects data on patient's injuries, mechanism of injury, vital signs, questions from the rural provider and advice from trauma surgeon, as well as data using a Likert-type scale to measure physician's perception of improved quality of care, quality of video and audio, equipment ease of use, and quality of communication between the consulting physicians. The Trauma Registry includes variables such as injury time, injury severity score, arrival/discharge times, complications, and discharge disposition. Expected that use of this system will reduce time to transfer and improve outcomes.
Service Area:
Sites funded by the grant project: Northwestern Regional Medical Center, Franklin County and Copley Hospital, Lamoille County, VT. Our overall program services 4 counties in Vermont and three non-HPSA or rural counties in northeastern New York. All but one of these areas have designated partial HPSAs and partial MUAs.
Services Provided:
This project provides teleconsults for trauma/emergency (24/7) and pediatric critical care. Other program services include surgical follow-up, psychiatry, and dermatology services. We provide Continuing Medical Education to providers in our network. Also provide contractual services to prisons in NY.
Equipment:
Polycom Viewstation 512 and Polycom VSX 3000 & 7000. Polycom MGC100 MCU at hub.
Transmission:
ISDN 3-BRI up to 384 kbps. Working toward use of IP in selected situations. Starting to use Internet and internet2 as the transmission pathway for certain projects.
