The project started a few days ago with a consultant dermatologist: Christoph Sinz from the Department of Dermatology assisted a colleague working on the ground in the diagnosis and potential treatment of patients with dermatological symptoms. The case information had already been provided in advance via "Store and Forward" using the secure "Reacts" data connection.
Other specialist disciplines will soon follow. "The aim is to build up a telehealth network that helps to significantly improve the medical care available in the camps," explains Eva Schaden from the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine and MedUni Vienna project leader.
Experts will be available for one hour every day for video calls from doctors in the camps, so that they can offer individual consultations. "This will make it quick and easy to access specialist expertise," explains Schaden. "Telemedicine enables us to put the person at the centre of medical care. There are already so many opportunities in the field of 'Digital Health' and we want to use them to help the people in the camps."
In future, the collaborating institutions aim to extend the service to other camps: "We are doctors and want to help people in need, no matter who they are or where they are. That is our motivation and our responsibility."