Arkansas patients with hand injuries now have access to the nation’s first hand trauma telemedicine program. This new method for dealing with hand injuries was developed and launched by the Arkansas Trauma Communications Center (ATCC) and the Arkansas Department of Health in January 2014.
Injuries to the hand or fingers are a major cause of disability and loss of productivity. Two-thirds of upper extremity injuries occur to individuals in their working years and one out of six disabling work injuries involve the fingers.
In addition, children under the age of six are at the greatest risk for crushing or burning injuries of the hand. According to Dr. Rick Wirges, Surgeon at Ortho Arkansas, “By private practices collaborating with academic physicians, we are able to provide immediate evaluations, identify the actual injury, the proper treatment needed for optimal recovery, and the chance for a return of normal hand functions.”
The Hand Telemedicine Program’s goal is to provide patients accurate assessments and treatment recommendations which will result in expedited care for emergency cases. In addition, the program is going to help prevent unnecessary patient transfers while allowing more efficient use of air and ground emergency medical services resources.
The program will use iPads to connect hand surgeons with hand injury patients through secure, encrypted videos. The ATCC has partnered with Ortho Arkansas, Ozark Orthopedics, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to provide seven hand surgeons to be available for virtual consults. The surgeons will evaluate the patient’s hand injury and make treatment recommendations based on the severity of the injury.
In 2013, the ATCC coordinated 316 hand trauma patients. Nearly 14 percent of these injuries were emergency cases that required re-attachment or surgery on the veins and capillaries in the hand. In addition, 68 of the 316 hand injury patients had to leave the state for treatment.