“There are not nearly enough neurologists to deliver inpatient care so a new telemedicine partnership to meet this need has been established between Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and Williamson Medical Center (WMC) in Franklin Tennessee.
Eight VUMC neurologists on call 24/7 provide remote consultations for patients at WMC with urgent neurological conditions such as stroke, seizure, or severe headaches. Since its inception in February, more than 100 patients have been seen through the services with 85 percent able to stay at WMC and 1 percent transported to VUMC.
VUMC providers are notified when a consult is requested, and generally respond within 10-15 minutes. They discuss the patient’s symptoms, medical history, and medications with the WMC provider, access the patient’s tests and scans virtually, and if needed, examine the patient via video conferencing. Lisa Hermann M.D Assistant Professor of Neurology and Director of Teleneurology at VUMC reports that the partnership averages one to three consults per day.
Starling C. Evins, M.D. CMO at WMC summed up the program by saying, “The program is running well although we are continually trying to fine tune it. This is Vanderbilt’s and WMC’s first venture into telemedicine to provide high quality care to patients in the Vanderbilt-affiliated hospitals. We are hoping to explore other areas of telemedicine in the future.”