You have heard me tell you that technology is revolutionizing how we
will provide health care to our children. Children’s Specialized Hospital is
fortunate to be the first pediatric rehabilitation hospital in the country to
offer the telemedicine robot, VGo.
What is VGo? It’s a robot. A robot that uses HIPPA-secure technology to
provide two-way video, audio and motor driven action. This is SO COOL! Thank
you to Dr. Haines for being the driving force behind bringing VGo to our
patients.
Now this is really great; we are currently sending home a VGo, with
some of our infants and their parents, for the first week. For many of these
patients this is their first time outside of a hospital setting and having
access to the medical team that has helped them through what is probably one of
the most challenging times in their lives is priceless.
Dr. Burke and her team will schedule appointments to check in on the
patient; with the home health nurse too. In a few cases, Dr. Burke has been
able to avoid ED visits and readmissions because of these check-ins.One time,
a baby’s trach came out during the visit and she was able to successfully talk
the parent/nurse into reinserting it.
Currently, we have two VGo robots in our New Brunswick site, as well as
one at each of our LTC centers. But we hope to add more VGo robots to our
inventory and help improve access to pediatric specialists and outpatient care
to children living in medically underserved communities.
Special thanks to Drs. Haines and Burke for being true champions of VGo
and for embracing this new technology to its fullest. Thank you too to our
facilities team who go to the ends of NJ to deliver our VGos, and bring them
home.
In the short time that we’ve been able to use these devices, VGo has
offered endless opportunities to help our children in a way that we never
thought was possible. Not only can our physicians check in on their patients at
any point in the day from wherever they are, but we are now able to have our
physicians consult with one another across our sites, right at the patient’s
bed side by just dialing into the system from a computer or iPad.
We strive to help every child
live in a world where they have every opportunity to reach their goals.
Advances in technology, such as this, make it possible to save more lives and
help our kids reach new heights.
I am excited to see the other
opportunities the VGo system – or any other new form of technology – offers the
children at Children’s Specialized Hospital.
Have you used the VGo system yet, or used any other form of
telemedicine to help improve patient care? Do you have any idea on how we can
use our VGos? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
