Telemedicine Achieves Results in Alaska: this modern technology ties rural communities to doctors in larger cities.

• Author: Morgan, Barbara
• Position: Health care industry

A man is having chest pains in a small village on the Yukon River. A community health aide sends an electrocardiogram to a supervising physician in Fairbanks. Within minutes the man is diagnosed with a serious heart condition. Appropriate therapy is mobilized.

A 10-year-old girl is seen by an audiologist in Nome who takes a picture of her eardrum and sends it to an ear specialist in Anchorage. Later that day, the otolaryngologist diagnoses her with a cholesteatoma and schedules surgery to avoid hearing loss in the child.

These are but two examples of how the extraordinary technology of the Alaska Federal Health Care Access Network is impacting ordinary lives in remote areas of Alaska.

It is an initiative of the Alaska Federal Health Care Partnership--a cooperative agreement among federal and tribal health care organizations to work together to improve health care for the nearly 240,000 beneficiaries in Alaska. The partnership has been recognized nationally for interagency agreements, staff sharing, and efficient use of equipment and resources. Last year, the partnership received the prestigious AstraZeneca National Managed Health Care Congress Award for partnerships between military facilities and teaching hospitals/integrated delivery systems.

With great distances between communities and extreme weather conditions in most of the state, Alaska is the right environment for telemedicine. Most communications that aren't on the road system are relayed via satellite, and organizations use different telephone carriers.

AFHCAN has developed a unique telemedicine cart that includes a variety of medical devices (video otoscope, digital camera, ECG and scanner) and may also be attached to other peripherals (e.g. dental camera, other medical scopes). The cart is portable, ergonomic and sturdy.

"We designed the cart with the idea that this is going in a remote village and we can't afford to go out and fix even the little things," said Stewart Ferguson. AFHCAN project director. "The top tray is reachable, yet out of the way; the monitor has a wide viewing angle and utilizes the latest touch-screen technology; the mouse is infrared: the counter top cut to protect cables: and the heavy items ... are on the bottom. The system can be packaged in a small plane and assembled on site. The wireless capability allows the unit to be moved from room to room."

The AFHCAN telemedicine cart has been deployed by Alaska Clinical Engineering Services to more than 200...