AURORA, Colo. — In-person care has long been a staple of medicine, but that's changing.
"We've made more progress on telemedicine in the last month than we've made in the previous two years," HealthOne Chief Medical Information Officer Dr. Mark Radlauer said.
The coronavirus pandemic is revolutionizing the approach at HealthOne facilities, like Aurora Medical Center, where patients are being treated at a new distance after being admitted.
"We're often interacting with patients multiple times via our own telemedicine application or Zoom so that we can keep them up-to-date but not necessarily go in the room and put on all of our protective equipment," Dr. Radlauer added.
"Actually it's protection for the patient and for the healthcare delivery individual," Medical Director of Emergency Dept. at Aurora Medical Center Dr. Frank Lansville said.
Using Zoom, tablets and phones, nurses and staff can monitor patients and help when needed while reducing exposure, and it's helped keep the number of cases amongst staff down.
"We are seeing a huge influx of these types of patients. Our ability to protect ourselves and the patient has been incredible, and so because of that, we've been able to safely care for all patients," Dr. Lansville said.
It's also allowing them to monitor those patients better once they leave.
"It had been done before, but the sudden change in priority is really just drove a lot of adoption," Dr. Radlauer said.
Telehealth engagements are accelerating this tech as the new norm.
"I think this is going to be part of future.," Dr. Lansville said.
