Video teleconferencing has been making inroads in helping doctors remotely interview patients when a visit to the clinic is unnecessary or is simply too much trouble. A companion problem for patients living in remote areas is that their physicians are also usually miles away from large medical facilities with an array of specialists. Because specialty advice is far away, rural patients may not receive sufficient attention without driving to a distant hospital. Now a project called ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) at the University of New Mexico is bringing together rural clinicians with university specialists to discuss individual patient cases.
Project page: Project ECHO…