Healthcare services in Viña del Mar-Quillota have presented a new Telemedicine system that includes the Hospitals of Petorca, Viña del Mar and Limache. This program of virtual sessions makes it possible to connect a specialist from a base Hospital – in this case the Hospital Dr. Gustavo Fricke – with a general doctor from another care center in order to improve the quality of healthcare. Doctors will now be able to consult their colleagues and specialists without needing to transfer patients.
Dr. Manuel de la Prida, a doctor at the Hospital Dr. Gustavo Fricke, said that “this remote consultancy system connects the less complex hospitals of Petorca and Limache with their center of reference, the Hospital de Viña del Mar. This means that patients at these hospitals can be examined in real time, as if they were in a hospital booth at the center in question, through a mobile tele-consultancy device.”
The treatment methodology is simple: the cases arrive at the base Hospital 48 hours ahead and the objective is to resolve problems quickly for both patients who are hospitalized and outpatients.
Dr. Margarita Estefan, the Director of the Viña del Mar-Quillota Healthcare Service, hailed the Telemedicine system: “It means that we are connected to hospitals further away from our jurisdiction which, although they may not be very complex, receive patients with complex pathologies that need a specialist’s opinion. There is a working methodology with protocols and once a week sessions are held that connect general doctors to specialists.”
Mobile consulting devices make it possible to coordinate remote medical visits, connect general doctors with specialist doctors and implement training and assessment.
Source: Servicio de Salud Viña del Mar-Quillota
