Hospitals form link for newborns’ care
Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008
A new telemedicine program is linking hospitals statewide to specialists at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences with the goal of improving care for at-risk newborns.
Doctors in four Arkansas hospitals can access neonatologists at UAMS and Arkansas Children’s Hospital any time for help treating newborns with a low birth weight or other medical emergencies. Eight more hospitals are expected to join the network within the next seven months, according to a UAMS news release.
“UAMS has provided highrisk obstetrics consults,” Dr. Curtis Lowery, chairman of the UAMS College of Public Health’s obstetrics and gynecology department, said in the release. “But this is the first time we’ve been able to go into the nurseries of Arkansas’ regional hospitals to consult with their neonatologists or pediatricians.” UAMS neonatologist Dr. Whit Hall is leading the effort.
The prog ram currently links the Little Rock hospitals with doctors at the Medical Center of South Arkansas in El Dorado, St. Edward Mercy Medical Center in Fort Smith, Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville and Willow Creek Women’s Hospital in Johnson.
The neonatal telemedicine program is the latest expansion of ANGELS, or Antenatal and Neonatal Guidelines, Education and Learning System, which has linked doctors treating high-risk pregnancy patients at Arkansas hospitals and clinics since 2003 with the goal of reducing premature births, said Lowery, also co-director of UAMS’ Center for Distance Health. UAMS manages ANGELS with significant support from the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s air ambulance helicopter will be used to transport mothers and their newborns to appropriate hospitals participating in the program.
Lowery said hopes are the new system will reduce deaths of low birth weight babies in Arkansas.
The program is paid for with help of the National Institutes of Health, and UAMS’ Center for Translational Neuroscience and Community Based Research and Education Core Facility.
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