Telemedicine speeds access to care in Nunavik
An EHR success story
The reality of medical care in Nunavik is very different from the situation in southern Quebec. Because of the region's vast distances, geographic isolation and its sparse population, specialized professional and technical medical resources are not always available. Each year, there are more than 1,200 patient transfers to urban centres for specialized or emergency care, most of them as a direct result of the lack of local resources and relevant clinical information.
Dr. Nathalie Boulanger is very familiar with this situation as she has lived in Nunavik and practiced general medicine there for 16 years. She works at the Ungava Tulattavik Health Centre, located in Kuujjuaq, which serves the 4,000 local residents as well as those in Ungava Bay. The arrival of teleradiology as well as cardiac and renal tele-ultrasound brought a major change to health care services in the area. Dr. Boulanger explained that previously, "when a pregnant woman had problems, she would have to take a commercial flight to Montreal to see a specialist. Today, a gynaecologist from Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital, using telemedicine's technology, can examine the patient and interpret results, in real time, onscreen, while providing guidance to the medical technologist back here with us." This type of examination is made possible because of an electronic health record (EHR) and a satellite-based video-conferencing system, in combination with local medical equipment, such as an ultrasound machine.
While telemedicine will never replace visits to Nunavik by travelling medical specialists, it does provide a viable alternative. Timely telediagnosis makes it possible for health professionals to avoid some costly and stressful patient transfers to southern facilities, as well as the chance to plan necessary transfers so they can to take place under more favourable circumstances. It also makes it possible to optimize patient treatment, by avoiding long waits for appointments or treatments based on an incomplete diagnosis.
Nunavik's geographic location makes it an extremely suitable breeding ground for the development of telemedicine, one of the region's major priorities.. "Technology greatly facilitates our work and will increasingly become part of our practice, especially with the projected arrival of the DSQ (Quebec Health Record)," says Dr. Boulanger.
There are now 41 sites throughout the Yukon with telehealth capability and the service is available for medical care and related health services as well as continuing care, alcohol and drug counselling, social and mental health services. Follow-up care has also dramatically improved as video conferencing makes it possible for practitioners to check in and “see” clients every two or three months, three times as often as was possible when travel was required.
Information technologies and the EHR hold great promise for reducing the isolation from large urban centres experienced by such areas as Nunavik.
