Page 19 - Part 2 Introduction to Telemedicine

SVMIC Introduction to Telemedicine

record or not preserving a usable account of the clinician’s
findings and thought process can still be an issue. Take a look at

the following case:

CASE STUDY

A 31-year-old female with a history of congestive heart failure and

a pacemaker went in for an appointment with her cardiologist for
a pacemaker performance test. The test was transmitted to a

monitor with the expectation that any abnormal results would be
called in to the physician. The monitor detected the abnormal

functioning and allegedly reported the findings to the physician.

However, there was no documentation in the medical record of
the report to the physician. The patient died later that night of an

acute cardiac event.

Misidentification

While impersonation and identity theft can certainly be threats in

the traditional office environment, the electronic environment

makes these higher risks. It is important to have ways to verify the
identity of persons with whom electronic transactions are being

conducted. One practice, where policy requires an in-person visit
before patients are eligible for telemedical treatment, is to capture

a photo ID. This obviously isn’t fail-proof and doesn’t help much
when initial contact is online. Of course, inadvertent

misidentification and misrouting of patients, records, prescriptions,

results and messages through multiple error pathways remains an
ever-present concern.

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