by Jay Crandall
azfamily.com
Posted on November 24, 2014 at 6:41 PM
Updated yesterday at 7:21 PM
PHOENIX-- Every year, a stroke will send 800,000 Americans to the hospital. And with every minute that passes, more brain function is lost.
There are only about 1,500 stroke experts in the entire country, meaning it would be impossible to put one in every emergency department unless they could literally be in two places at once.
What is this? Dr. Victor Zach, Director of Stroke and Neurocritical care at John C. Lincoln, asks a mock patient as he shows us, how he would examine a patient for signs of stroke.
But, it turns out, Dr. Zach is not actually bedside for this exam. He is virtually there, thanks to a high-tech robot, This is a cutting edge, In Touch Help, tele-robot that we basically can use to immediately bring a stroke doctor into the room within minutes of a stroke alert activation, he says as he shows us the machine which features a monitor, microphone and cameras.
The robot fills a critical need in stroke diagnoses, because there is a shortage of stroke doctors in this country, Dr. Zach explains. To have a stroke doctor available in every Emergency Department is just physically impossible,"he explains. "So we are all over and scattered. So if a patient is brought into a center and they don't have a stroke doctor, it becomes a problem.
And while he was in the room to demonstrate, Dr. Zach says the robot lets an on-call doctor be bedside, in moments, from anywhere. I carry a wi-fi hot spot with me at all times when I am on call, which allows me to do this anywhere there is a private room. I will find a private location, sometimes even if it is necessary, it can be done in a private vehicle."
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'Stroke robot' helps improve treatment for stroke patients