UPMC Horizon’s latest offering in telemedicine will benefit some of its youngest patients through a partnership with Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.
UPMC Horizon’s emergency departments at its Greenville and Shenango Valley campuses today launched a telemedicine program that will bring the expertise of top pediatric specialists right to the ER bedside.
The physicians at Children’s will provide consultations to UPMC Horizon physicians and help to determine if a patient needs to be transferred or can remain at UPMC Horizon for treatment. In the event a child does need to be transferred to Children’s, the receiving physician would already be familiar with that child’s condition. Electronic medical records and online access to test results help make patient transfers a more seamless experience.
“The telemedicine program with Children’s will enhance the services we provide here at UPMC Horizon and hopefully will provide more comfort to parents who bring their children to our emergency departments, because they’ll know a pediatric subspecialist is participating in the care of their child,” says Karen Calhoun, BSN, MBA, RN, clinical director of emergency services at UPMC Horizon.
“The high speed and high definition transmission of telemedicine technology significantly enhances the communication between referring physicians and Children’s Hospital, allowing for our transport team to more accurately assist them in the care and ultimate transfer of their patient, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” says Richard A. Saladino, MD, chief of the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. “Additionally, whenever consultation is needed between emergency department clinicians, telemedicine offers incredible clarity that allows us to provide rapid and accurate advice.”
UPMC Horizon first began using telemedicine in 2007 in partnership with UPMC Stroke Institute to provide expert consultations for stroke patients. Since then, the hospital has expanded its telemedicine offerings into psychiatry with Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, maternal fetal medicine with Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, and liver cancer clinics with UPMC Liver Cancer Center.
In 2010, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC opened Children’s Specialty Care Center Hermitage at the Womancare Center of UPMC Horizon, which offers local access to pediatric cardiologists, general and thoracic surgeons, endocrinologists, oncologists, neurologists, gastroenterologists, otolaryngologists, pulmonary medicine specialists, and experts in Down Syndrome.
To learn more about Children’s telemedicine program, please visit www.chp.edu/telemedicine.
