Telemedicine brings home care to patients by Staff Sgt. In the past, this usually would lead to a visit and possibly a lengthy stay at Eisenhower Army Medical Center. But now, help is just a key stroke away for the retiree family member through the hospital's Electronic Housecall project.
Doctors use telemedicine technology to monitor patients from the living room of their homes.
I can take my own vital signs here in my living room, and if everything looks okay I go about my business. That's the goal of the project, which is just one way the medical center uses telemedicine to improve its care. Eisenhower also has used telemedicine to train medical troops in Bosnia and is developing a similar computer system to use in its ambulances. Eisenhower's Jean Barnes, a registered nurse, monitors 13 patients from her office using a personal computer equipped with a video monitor and special software. She records vital signs from patients who are miles away through a similar computer setup in the patients' homes.