When it became clear that many small Mississippi hospitals were having trouble staffing their emergency rooms, University of Mississippi Health Care started TelEmergency services in October 2003, providing care for remote emergency room patients using a sophisticated telemedicine link.
The only academic emergency program of this type and scope in the United States, UMHC’s TelEmergency service has seen over 150,000 patients, providing the quality and expertise of UMHC's top level emergency medicine department to 14 critical access hospitals. Incorporating aspects of teletrauma, telestroke, teleradiology and telecardiology, all emergencies are cared for either by a nurse practitioner or, for more complicated cases, with the assistance of the UMHC emergency department staff.
This innovative emergency care solution was conceived of and developed by UMHC personnel, including physicians, nurse practitioners, technical experts and other emergency staff. The program requires specialized training, including many hours of both didactic and clinical training in the adult emergency department, operating rooms and UMMC simulation center.
This initiative has led to the development of other telemedicine projects, including telepsychiatry, telestroke and teleradiology with many more projects in the planning stage.