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Telemedicine for Trauma and Intensive Care: Changing the Paradigm of Telepresence

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Book cover Technological Advances in Surgery, Trauma and Critical Care

Abstract

Telemedicine and telepresence for surgical care are becoming common practice and are an effective and safe way of providing healthcare services. Various terms are used when describing telemedicine overall, such as telehealth and telecare. What makes the issue even more complex when it comes to telemedicine for surgery. When one recognizes that over 5.8 million people die from trauma each year worldwide, and five million patients are admitted to the ICU each year (only in the USA), one can understand the possible importance of telemedicine in providing care for the sickest of and the injured patients. Telemedicine for ICU has been called “tele-ICU,” “e-ICU,” and virtual ICU. The use of telemedicine for trauma and emergency has been termed “teletrauma.” All, however, have the same meaning: use of telemedicine to provide care at the distance, whenever the patient is. The use of telemedicine for trauma and ICU has been associated with significantly better outcomes such as decrease of mortality and morbidity, decrease in Length of Stay (LOS), and an increase in staff satisfaction in workload and usefulness of telemedicine technology.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, University of Arizona Medical Center, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Rifat Latifi

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  1. Rifat Latifi
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Correspondence to Rifat Latifi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    Rifat Latifi

  2. Department of Surgery, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    Peter Rhee

  3. Department of Surgery, Professor of Surgery, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    Rainer W.G. Gruessner

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Latifi, R. (2015). Telemedicine for Trauma and Intensive Care: Changing the Paradigm of Telepresence. In: Latifi, R., Rhee, P., Gruessner, R. (eds) Technological Advances in Surgery, Trauma and Critical Care. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2671-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2671-8_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-2670-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-2671-8

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