A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL OF TELEMEDICINE IN AN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

A prospective study of emergency department telemedicine was carried o ut at two hospitals in northern New jersey. One hundred and twenty-two patients met the inclusion criteria. One hundred and four (85%) conse nted to participate, with 54 being randomized to the telemedicine grou p and 50 to the control group. Four patients did not complete the prot ocol. No significant differences were seen between the groups for: occ urrence of 72 h emergency department return visits (0% vs 0%); need fo r additional care (2.3% vs 2.4%); positive patient-physician interacti on (98% vs 100%); positive patient-nurse interaction (98% vs 98%); pos itive overall patient satisfaction (98% vs 95%). The average patient t hroughput time (time from admission to discharge) for the telemedicine group was 106 min; the average for the control group was 117 min. Tel emedicine was found to be a satisfactory technique for pre-selected em ergency department patients and was viewed by the physicians as an acc eptable method of complementary care.