Abstract
A number of chapters are especially noteworthy.
The chapter by Charles R. Doarn makes for excellent reading. It describes how programs in space telemedicine and extreme telemedicine can impact broader patient populations. Doarn has a remarkable range of professional interests as well as much first-hand experience in the field of telemedicine, extending over decades. And, he is very talented at integrating information from diverse sources into coherent interpretations of advances in the field of telemedicine. Doarn makes the past highly relevant to the present, and future. He has a unique talent for creating coherent intellectual tapestries from isolated ideas, experiences, and data sets.
Several chapters are especially noteworthy since because they present timely information on telemedicine services that are currently maturing, with expanding market shares in their segments of the healthcare industry.
H. Neal Reynolds' chapter on Telemedicine in Intensive Care Units is a timely update on progress in the intensive care field, by an expert from the renowned “Division of Critical Care Medicine at the R. Adams Cowley, Shock Trauma Center” at the University of Maryland, in Baltimore. The Cowley Center is a best-of-breed operation and an aspirational department for many intensive care units across the United States. Reynolds has written a concise, no-nonsense, “here's how you do it and analyze-your results,” chapter that is a must read for anyone thinking about getting involved with an electronic intensive care unit (eICU) in the United States.
Jeffery S. Saffle, M.D., FACS, is Director of the Burn Trauma ICU at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He has provided an excellent chapter titled “Telemedicine for Burns” in which he discusses many of the facets and challenges of the use of telemedicine for burn care. He includes both U.S. and International perspectives. Included is a listing of 124 references pertinent to the use of telemedicine for burn victims. Many of the references would be hard to find yet are also applicable to teletrauma patients and additional acute care clinical settings.
The chapter on telestoke is authored by Bart M. Demaerschalk, M.D., a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona. This is required reading for anybody remotely interested in the area of stroke management. Telestroke is arguably the newest “killer” application in the telemedicine/telehealth field. Currently, telestroke networks are popping up all over the United States. This is because the development of stoke in many patients has its golden hour when the administration of a drug, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), can abort the evolution of what frequently ends up as very debilitating condition, without this immediately therapeutic intervention. In many ways, distance and availability of the services specialized stroke clinical unit, with 24/7 immediate availability to a panel of neurologists, is the best way to manage such medical emergencies for geographically disadvantaged patents in rural areas. Typically, the option would be to transport the patients to an urban stroke center via helicopter. And, sometimes, there just is not enough time to get the physical transfer of the patient, hundreds of miles away in a rural community, accomplished.
Demaerschalk is a physician's physician. In fact, to know him personally is to know the near-perfect gentleman-physician. In addition to his other admirable qualities as a human being, this ever thoughtful, caring, respectful, humanistic Mayo doctor is also a talented clinical investigator. He pays enormous attention to details. And, he's not just talk. While on the Mayo-Clinic/Scottsdale staff, Demaerschalk has built a model telestroke program headquartered in Scottsdale. He has published his outcomes in credible articles. And, in this chapter, he shows that he is very talented at communicating the “how to,” “what for,” and “these are the challenges” for creating sustainable telestroke programs. His referencing of the telestroke literature is precise and inclusive, the very model of how to write a scholarly chapter for a multiauthored medical monograph.
Rifat Latifi, the book's editor, co-authored 5 of the 25 chapters in the book. All of his chapters are balanced, scholarly, insightful, and worth reading. Latifi's chapters' scopes of coverage are very broad. His topics range from “communications technologies” to “prehospital telemedicine, using digital imaging equipped ambulances.” There is even a Latifi chapter on extreme telemedicine, describing Latifi's use of telemedicine to support an Amazon River swim expedition. All five of the chapters by Latifi and his collaborators are worth reading. His chapters do more than fill in the gaps in the book. They present interesting perspectives from an individual with an encyclopedic knowledge of the telemedicine field. What is amazing is that Latifi can be so tuned in to what is going on in telemedicine around the globe, and still find time to be a trauma surgeon. Amazing! I worked with Latifi in Arizona, up close and personal, for years and could never figure out how he got so much accomplished in a day. Reading this book just increases my personal admiration for this talented academic surgeon.
Latifi's monograph represents an important contribution to the telemedicine literature. This volume paints a panoramic view of a rapidly expanding field. The book provides the reader with considerably more useful information than the title might suggest.