Telemedicine Guide

Goal

Goal: Facilitate communication between prehospital provider and telemedicine consultant.

Rehearsal of telemedicine consultation between prehospital providers and remote physician consultants has shown that communication is optimized when the caller completes a telemedicine guide or script before calling the consultant and uses it during the consultation. In addition to transmit- ting medical information to the consultant, it is important for the caller to provide information about the care context and a summary of capabilities currently available. An image of the casualty and an image of the care environment are helpful for remote consultants to understand the operational constraints faced by the local caregiver. Capabilities that are important to convey to remote consultants may include the training level of the provider, available medications, medical supplies, monitoring, ultrasound, etc. Reading or sending a photograph of a written capabilities list will more quickly orient the consultant to the operational environment of the caller and reduce time spent asking the caller for items that are not available. If urgent teleconsultation is needed, do not delay calling to fill out a guide sheet or send e-mails. For additional details, see Teleconsultation in prolonged field care position paper.1

Minimum: Read from TCCC card.

Better: Use telemedicine report incorporated in the PFC flowsheet.

Best: Use the Virtual Critical Care Consultation guide (Appendix C) and send a picture of casualty, capabilities, and vital sign trends to the consultant via email or text using appropriate operational security and protections of patient privacy.