title: Video consultation for trauma and emergency surgical patients.
abstract: The saying goes that a picture is worth a thousand words, but what then is the value of video? For the care of trauma and emergency surgical patients, the use of video consultation between medical providers may be worth its weight in gold. Telemedicine has become an important tool in reducing the disparity among the haves and the have not's, in this case facilities with a trauma service and those without. This article presents the use of live video for trauma consultations between the only level 1 trauma center in Southern Arizona and several smaller rural hospitals. We also expand on what we believe the future and direction of telesurgery in the fields of critical care and trauma surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Southern Arizona Telemedicine, Tucson, Arizona 85724, USA. bjoseph@surgery.arizona.edu
authors.forename: Bellal
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Joseph
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hadeed
authors.forename: Moutamn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sadoun
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Rhee
authors.forename: Ronald S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Weinstein
mesh_terms: D001130:Arizona; D003422:Critical Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006780:Hospitals, Rural; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000458:organization & administration; D014193:Trauma Centers / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014743:Videotape Recording; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*