The Use of Teleconsultations in the Treatment of Patients with Multiple Trauma

Abstract

To investigate the opportunities and effectiveness of teleconsultations in the treatment of multiple traumatized patients. There were 57 male (76%) and 18 female patients (24%), whose age varied from 17 to 70 years. A comparative analysis of different parameters for multiply traumatized patients who had teleconsultations as part of their diagnostics and treatment complex (group 1 n = 33) and patients who underwent standard treatment (group 2 n = 42) was carried out using asynchronous and synchronous teleconsultations based on the Internet technologies. The reliability of the diagnostics of multiple trauma using digitized data was quite high and came to 72.8% (p < 0.05). The use of teleconsultations on multiply traumatized patients resulted in a reduction of the average time of in-hospital treatment by 5.7 days (16%); a reduction of complications by 9.2% (statistically reliable changes in the structure of complications were observed, light forms prevailed); a reduction of financial expenses by 6% due to the reduction of time of in-hospital treatment; a reduction of the parameter of readmission to hospital by 0.4%; and a reduction of the relative risk of complications by 10%. Teleconsultation proves to be a quick and effective tool for advising multiply traumatized patients and making clinical decisions on the treatment of skeletal injuries. Wide use of technically simple telemedical systems based on the Internet is recommended.