Remote-controlled robot is helping doctors treat patients in rural areas of Kentucky
Most doctors wish they could be two places at once. Now some of them can. UofL Health Care is teaming with community hospitals to provide care to patients in rural and outlying areas of Central and Western Kentucky with the help of a remote-controlled robot. Owensboro Medical Health System (OMHS) is the first of several institutions to field the 5-foot, 6-inch robot, called the RP-7. It was invented and manufactured by InTouch Health of Santa Barbara, Calif. Within moments of a request for medical consultation, a doctor seated at a computer control station - at her home or office in Louisville, an airport terminal or anywhere in the world with a wireless link - can connect via the Internet to the RP-7 Robot. The doctor can then interact and talk with a patient, a patient's family, a physician or a nurse using the robot's live, two-way audio-video connection. In essence, the robot allows physicians to be in two places at once. The emergency and neurology departments at OMHS were first to use the system, which allows UofL's nationally renowned neurology faculty physicians to provide treatment for stroke patients. More specialties will be added later. "The robot is an invaluable physician tool," said Kerri Remmel, M.D., Ph.D., director of University Hospital's Stroke Center and interim chair of UofL's Department of Neurology. "I have found that using the robot means that patients can be accessed more quickly, which expands treatment and intervention opportunities, and eventually opens up opportunities for enrollment in national clinical trials that benefit all patients," she said. "Our intent is to complement the great services of OMHS and other community hospitals across Kentucky," said Larry Cook, M.D., UofL's executive vice president for health affairs. Cook conceived the UofL Health Care-Central and Western Kentucky initiative. There are many highly qualified physicians providing service in Central and Western Kentucky, he said, but the robot can provide a link between the academic medical center in Louisville and hospitals that want to access services on an as-needed basis.
The doctor also can maneuver the robot through the remote hospital to a patient's bedside and move the robot's head to see vital signs on monitors and charts by manipulating a joystick to control a camera and a 360-degree bank of infrared sensors.
