NURSE REACTIONS TO A PROTOTYPE HOME TELEMEDICINE SYSTEM

We have studied nurse reactions to a prototype home health telemedicin e system. The system used interactive video through the local cable te levision network. Six nurses were directly involved with telecare vide o-visits. There were 54 patients. The average age of the patients was 76 years (range 21-101). Thirty-six (67%) patients were female and 18 (33%) were male. The patients had an average of 4.6 different diagnose s (range 1-16). They were also on a very wide range of medications (me an 9.9, range 2-23). Nurses overwhelmingly felt the system was effecti ve for what this particular project was trying to accomplish. They wer e enthusiastic about the prospects of practising nursing by telemedici ne, even though they had reservations about aspects of the particular system being used. Their main complaints were about limitations of the software and limitations of the telecommunication system that linked them to the patients.