Evaluation of the benefits for the patient arising from an inter-hospital teleradiology network in a French administrative area.
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Date
2005-06-22
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Abstract
We conducted a prospective study of the teleradiology network which connects 15 hospitals in the Aquitaine area All transmissions sent over a one year period were examined data transmitted at the time of the remote consultation and health outcomes of patients from their medical records For emergency cases the main outcome measure of effectiveness was the proportion of avoided transfers For non emergency cases the main outcome measure of effectiveness was the proportion of transfers hospitalizations and consultations avoided There were 737 transmissions of which 664 90 met the inclusion criteria Of these 562 85 were for emergency care and 102 15 for non emergency care In emergency care the pathologies most often associated with a remote consultation were cerebral pathologies 88 and traumatic spinal pathologies 8 the proportion of avoided transfers was 48 In non emergency care the specialties most often concerned with remote consultations were neurology neurosurgery 36 cardiology and pulmonary diseases 17 and gastroenterology 14 Transfer was avoided for 37 of the patients and hospitalization for 12 An additional consultation occurred after remote consultation for 2 of the patients The results confirm the effectiveness of an inter hospital teleradiology network