Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

Abstract #160307

Pamela Whitten, PhD and Lorraine Buis, MSI. Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media, Michigan State University, 409 Communication Arts and Sciences Building, East Lansing, MI 48824, 432-1332, pwhitten@msu.edu

Background: For people living in Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula, access to health services is a challenge. Hemodialysis patients are particularly vulnerable to the challenges of accessing specialty healthcare services. Geographic constraints, treatment times, interruption of activities, and complications that arise from their health status drain the quality of life for these individuals. The most frequent reason for refusal of dialysis in the UP is the disruption of lifestyle combined with difficulty of travel. Objective/Purpose: This study investigated clinical outcomes and patient/provider perceptions of a telemedicine program connecting rural dialysis centers in Michigan's Upper Peninsula to tertiary medical center Marquette General Health System (MGHS). This telemedicine program was designed to reduce patient/provider travel while assuring compliance with the new CMS standard of care structure change which required patients to visit nephrologists 3-4 times per month. Methods: To understand perceptions of patients/providers utilizing the telemedicine services, telephone surveys were conducted with 34 patients and 6 providers. To document clinical outcomes from telemedicine, clinical data from six months were analyzed for 45 telemedicine patients and compared against the Renal Network 11 recommendations for dialysis centers. Results: Survey data indicate that patients and providers have positive perceptions of the telemedicine system and the level of care. Furthermore, analysis indicated that patient/provider consults via telemedicine were effective as patients averaged clinical measures that met or exceeded recommendations set forth by Renal Network 11 in 6 of 8 benchmarks. Discussion/Conclusions: As patients and providers report positive perceptions of the telemedicine system and results indicate that the level of care provided is acceptable, it is concluded that providing consults via telemedicine technologies is a viable solution to challenges encountered by rural dialysis patients. However, traditional barriers to telehealth adoption documented in prior research by the study authors must be addressed to impact widespread diffusion of this application.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the challenges associated with accessing specialty healthcare services in rural locations.
• Recognize the benefits of telemedicine technologies in overcoming rural constraints in providing healthcare services.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of a telemedicine solution to a rural healthcare access problem.

Keywords: Telemedicine, Rural Health Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.