I wanted to share my experience with two Curavi telemedicine consults that I completed over one recent weekend. On the first telemedicine consult I had on this particular weekend, I had a resident who had +4 pitting edema to bilateral lower extremities; they were also warm and red. She was also developing periorbital edema. This particular person has a diagnoses of dementia which causes its own issues if she has to go to the E.R. Based on my evaluation, I decided that she would be an appropriate candidate for telemedicine. The residents vital signs were stable and she did have rhonchi and wheezing noted in her lungs. I activated the Curavi system and immediately received a call back from the physician. I verbally gave the physician report on the resident including history and vitals. We then started our telemedicine conference. The physician was able to exam my resident including listening to her lung sounds via the computer. While the conference was going on, the resident’s daughter arrived to visit. She too was able to be involved in the conference. The physician was able to explain everything he was doing and about the treatment he felt the resident needed and the orders were given. After ending our virtual conference, the resident’s daughter and the other nurses that were in the conference verbalized their satisfaction at how well the system worked. The resident’s daughter also had been considering doing telemedicine to be seen by a specialist in Pittsburgh and this reinforced to her how well it worked.
The second consult went just as well. Neither resident had to go the hospital for treatment. Both residents were successfully treated here.
Ronica Rieger, RN