Providing a lifeline for rural doctors

Abstract

Telemedicine programs are often designed to meet the needs of specialists rather than rural doctors Australia has almost twice as many small rural hospital-based emergency facilities as designated emergency departments.1 They see 16% of Australia's emergency patient presentations, or almost 1.3 million presentations each year.1 Although small rural facilities are tasked with managing mainly minor injury and illness, they also treat patients with complex and time critical problems.2 These facilities are staffed by nurses alone, or by junior doctors, general practitioners or rural generalists. Rural doctors often have specific training for rural emergency medicine, and they usually have more years of experience than junior doctors who treat most patients in urban emergency departments. What they lack is immediate access to onsite specialist advice.