Telemedicine for Heart Patients in Lafayette
The future of medicine is here with the growing demand of greater access to care, one local healthcare system is taking virtual care to the next level.
News Ten’s Megan Kelly has more on the growing telemedicine program in a story you’ll see only on Ten.
Seeing your doctor through a robot that’s the reality at the Cardiovascular Institute of the South.
“We don’t have a physical presence in some of these rural hospitals. we have a robot, almost like a facetime except it has some other technology where we can actually do a physical exam through the internet.”
the CIS virtual care center provides care 24/7, 7 days a week.
It’s Hub is in Lafayette but they provide services all over Acadiana.
According to medical director Dr. Siby Ayalloore, physicians can call in, speak with a cardiologist about a concerning case and the cardiologist can speak directly to the patient through the robot.
“You can listen to their heartbeat, you can listen to their heart sounds, you can see a nurse actually pressed down to see if they have swelling in the legs.”
These robots are especially helpful for rural hospitals who may not have access to a cardiologist on site.
Emergency Department Medical Director at St. Martin Hosptal Dr. Blaine Lavergne says it helps cut down travel time between hospitals.
“When we have patients that come into the emergency room that aren’t black and white, like not obviously a heart attack that we ship off right away, we have a large percentage that fall in that great area. so it allows us immediate access to a specialty that you otherwise wouldn’t have a smaller hospitals.”
Currently, CIS has telemedicine services in about seven hospitals.
They get about 20-50 calls a week.
Dr. ayalloore says they hope to further expand the program as word gets out.
“These are the things that you can’t communicate over the phone that you can see and hear by the telemedicine. this goes into our calculus about how sick a patient really is, more than just a physical exam and your labs.”
In Lafayette, Megan Kelly KLFY News 10.
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There will be more on the telemedicine program at St. Martin Hospital in the next couple weeks.
For more information on what the services the virtual care center provides, visit our website at klfy.com