HVCH has recently partnered with The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center to provide neurological services to hospitalized patients via telehealth technology.
“This service is offered to patients admitted to HVCH who need to be seen by a neurologist, allowing us to treat neurological conditions locally,” Shawn Covey, HVCH Director of Inpatient Services, said.
The telehealth program from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center aims to improve patient outcomes at rural hospitals around the state.
Ohio State is one of the few health systems in Ohio providing teleneurology services. Neurologist Alicia Zha, MD, launched the program and it continues to grow.
“I want this to be a way for the community to get care from an academic health center without that being dictated by where they live,” Zha says.
Zha, who completed her residency at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center in 2016, returned to the medical center after completing a fellowship in vascular neurology and several years of clinical care and research at the University of Texas (UT) Medical Center in Houston. Zha spent two years on stroke research followed by three years of clinical and faculty work in telehealth, teleneurology and telestroke.HVCH can call on Zha and her colleagues for more comprehensive support when a patient presents with symptoms needing neurologic evaluation, diagnosis and treatment, including strokes, seizures and vertigo.
Typically, patients would need to be transferred to a larger medical facility to see a neurologist. These transfers can take patients hours from their communities and families. Now HVCH can provide access to neurologic experts via telehealth after a patient is stabilized and admitted.
From there, Zha connects with one of HVCH’s hospitalist physicians via a screen wheeled into the patient’s room. Together, Zha and the hospitalist:
• Complete a thorough series of neurology evaluations
• Confirm or make a diagnosis
• Counsel the patient about their diagnosis
• Discuss treatment options
• Outline what the next steps for the patient will be
• Talk with the patient about plans for their return to normal life
Patients who receive care through a teleneurology program achieve comparable outcomes to patients seen in the traditional manner, Zha says.
“We can help community hospitals hold onto patients and keep them close to home when appropriate,” Zha says.