Most of the children are receiving chemotherapy. With no pediatric oncologist in the Valley, the children and their nurses and doctors consult with a Health Science Center specialist who visits there once a month. Any other time, the parents of the child drive to San Antonio. Now, pediatric oncologists spend each Thursday consulting on cases using a telehealth connection. They can examine charts, diagnostic imaging, blood smears and bone marrow aspiration slides that are important to learn the child's condition.
Doctors feel closer to their patients.
They found and corrected an error in medication in the first month of the project. During the consultation, the physician is in a room on the fifth floor of the Health Science Center's Medical School in San Antonio. The patients are at South Texas Hospital, an 84-bed facility in Harlingen. The oncologists still make their monthly visits by car, but distance no longer prevents any patient from getting quick and expert attention. Dr. Legler, associate professor of family practice medicine, is a medical informatics fellow with the National Library of Medicine .