The use of remote presence for health care delivery in a northern Inuit community: a feasibility study
Objective. To evaluate the feasibility of remote presence for improving the health of residents in a remote northern Inuit community. Study design. A pilot study assessed patient’s, nurse’s and physician’s satisfaction with and the use of the remote presence technolo...
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Taylor & Francis Group
2013
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21112 https://doaj.org/article/8c48e2d95ea748e3bc82bd1fd72a77e3 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:8c48e2d95ea748e3bc82bd1fd72a77e3 2023-05-15T15:16:10+02:00 The use of remote presence for health care delivery in a northern Inuit community: a feasibility study Ivar Mendez Michael Jong Debra Keays-White Gail Turner 2013-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21112 https://doaj.org/article/8c48e2d95ea748e3bc82bd1fd72a77e3 EN eng Taylor & Francis Group http://www.circumpolarhealthjournal.net/index.php/ijch/article/download/21112/pdf_1 https://doaj.org/toc/2242-3982 doi:10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21112 2242-3982 https://doaj.org/article/8c48e2d95ea748e3bc82bd1fd72a77e3 International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Vol 72, Iss 0, Pp 1-8 (2013) Aboriginal health air transport health care costs patient care patient satisfaction remote presence robots telemedicine Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21112 2022-12-31T08:31:54Z Objective. To evaluate the feasibility of remote presence for improving the health of residents in a remote northern Inuit community. Study design. A pilot study assessed patient’s, nurse’s and physician’s satisfaction with and the use of the remote presence technology aiding delivery of health care to a remote community. A preliminary cost analysis of this technology was also performed. Methods. This study deployed a remote presence RP-7 robot to the isolated Inuit community of Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador for 15 months. The RP-7 is wirelessly controlled by a laptop computer equipped with audiovisual capability and a joystick to maneuver the robot in real time to aid in the assessing and care of patients from a distant location. Qualitative data on physician’s, patient’s, caregiver’s and staff’s satisfaction were collected as well as information on its use and characteristics and the number of air transports required to the referral center and associated costs. Results. A total of 252 remote presence sessions occurred during the study period, with 89% of the sessions involving direct patient assessment or monitoring. Air transport was required in only 40% of the cases that would have been otherwise transported normally. Patients and their caregivers, nurses and physicians all expressed a high level of satisfaction with the remote presence technology and deemed it beneficial for improved patient care, workloads and job satisfaction. Conclusions. These results show the feasibility of deploying a remote presence robot in a distant northern community and a high degree of satisfaction with the technology. Remote presence in the Canadian North has potential for delivering a cost-effective health care solution to underserviced communities reducing the need for the transport of patients and caregivers to distant referral centers. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health inuit Nain Newfoundland Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Newfoundland Nain ENVELOPE(-61.695,-61.695,56.542,56.542) International Journal of Circumpolar Health 72 1 21112 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Aboriginal health air transport health care costs patient care patient satisfaction remote presence robots telemedicine Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
spellingShingle |
Aboriginal health air transport health care costs patient care patient satisfaction remote presence robots telemedicine Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Ivar Mendez Michael Jong Debra Keays-White Gail Turner The use of remote presence for health care delivery in a northern Inuit community: a feasibility study |
topic_facet |
Aboriginal health air transport health care costs patient care patient satisfaction remote presence robots telemedicine Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 |
description |
Objective. To evaluate the feasibility of remote presence for improving the health of residents in a remote northern Inuit community. Study design. A pilot study assessed patient’s, nurse’s and physician’s satisfaction with and the use of the remote presence technology aiding delivery of health care to a remote community. A preliminary cost analysis of this technology was also performed. Methods. This study deployed a remote presence RP-7 robot to the isolated Inuit community of Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador for 15 months. The RP-7 is wirelessly controlled by a laptop computer equipped with audiovisual capability and a joystick to maneuver the robot in real time to aid in the assessing and care of patients from a distant location. Qualitative data on physician’s, patient’s, caregiver’s and staff’s satisfaction were collected as well as information on its use and characteristics and the number of air transports required to the referral center and associated costs. Results. A total of 252 remote presence sessions occurred during the study period, with 89% of the sessions involving direct patient assessment or monitoring. Air transport was required in only 40% of the cases that would have been otherwise transported normally. Patients and their caregivers, nurses and physicians all expressed a high level of satisfaction with the remote presence technology and deemed it beneficial for improved patient care, workloads and job satisfaction. Conclusions. These results show the feasibility of deploying a remote presence robot in a distant northern community and a high degree of satisfaction with the technology. Remote presence in the Canadian North has potential for delivering a cost-effective health care solution to underserviced communities reducing the need for the transport of patients and caregivers to distant referral centers. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ivar Mendez Michael Jong Debra Keays-White Gail Turner |
author_facet |
Ivar Mendez Michael Jong Debra Keays-White Gail Turner |
author_sort |
Ivar Mendez |
title |
The use of remote presence for health care delivery in a northern Inuit community: a feasibility study |
title_short |
The use of remote presence for health care delivery in a northern Inuit community: a feasibility study |
title_full |
The use of remote presence for health care delivery in a northern Inuit community: a feasibility study |
title_fullStr |
The use of remote presence for health care delivery in a northern Inuit community: a feasibility study |
title_full_unstemmed |
The use of remote presence for health care delivery in a northern Inuit community: a feasibility study |
title_sort |
use of remote presence for health care delivery in a northern inuit community: a feasibility study |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis Group |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21112 https://doaj.org/article/8c48e2d95ea748e3bc82bd1fd72a77e3 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-61.695,-61.695,56.542,56.542) |
geographic |
Arctic Newfoundland Nain |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Newfoundland Nain |
genre |
Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health inuit Nain Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Arctic Circumpolar Health International Journal of Circumpolar Health inuit Nain Newfoundland |
op_source |
International Journal of Circumpolar Health, Vol 72, Iss 0, Pp 1-8 (2013) |
op_relation |
http://www.circumpolarhealthjournal.net/index.php/ijch/article/download/21112/pdf_1 https://doaj.org/toc/2242-3982 doi:10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21112 2242-3982 https://doaj.org/article/8c48e2d95ea748e3bc82bd1fd72a77e3 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/ijch.v72i0.21112 |
container_title |
International Journal of Circumpolar Health |
container_volume |
72 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
21112 |
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1766346469783109632 |