Evaluation of television consultations between a large neonatal care hospital and a community hospital.

Abstract

Two-way television consultations between community hospital nurses and neonatologists at a nearby teaching hospital were conducted over a two- and one-half year period of time and were evaluated with respect to a baseline time period in which the television was not available. Screening for illness and prematurity in neonates occurred in a high risk population residing in a black, economically deprived, innercity area. Outcomes including transfer of sick babies from the community hospital to the large teaching hospital are analyzed in relation to prenatal maternal risk characteristics. Apgar scores, birth weight and gestational age. Evidence available suggests that television consultations facilitated formation of appropriate criteria for interhospital transfer and that routine clinical screening tests were performed more consistently following initiation of interhospital consultations.