Published: Monday, 2/3/2014
BY MARLENE HARRIS-TAYLOR BLADE STAFF WRITER
There is a new physicians assistant in the emergency room at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center, but this one is not human. A robot named Vincent by the hospital staff, or Vinnie for short, is breaking ground in medical treatment in northwest Ohio.
The remote-presence robot, RP7, can be controlled by a doctor from his office, home, or car through any computer device, even a smart phone, and commanded to roll on its own into any room in the emergency department.
The doctors face appears on a large flat-screen monitor attached to the robot and he or she can talk directly to a patient or another medical professional in the room with the patient. The robot comes equipped with medical instruments such as stethoscopes that can be placed on the patients body and the doctor can remotely hear the patients heartbeat and assess other vital signs from miles away.
Telemedicine, as it is called, has arrived in Toledo and it is changing the way medicine is practiced nationally and globally, said Dr. John Whapham, medical director of endovascular, neurosurgery, and stroke program for Mercy.
Dr. Whapham is a telemedicine pioneer, having been instrumental in building a program at St. Joseph Mercy hospital in the Detroit area called the Michigan Stroke Network. He helped create a similar program in Chicago that focused primarily on getting faster medical care to patients who were showing signs of having a stroke.
He said Vinnie has been live in the emergency room at St. Vincent for about two weeks and most patients have been accepting of the technology. They are also glad to know that a specialist such as Dr. Whapham is available to be a part of their care because the robot makes him accessible any time of the day or night.
Dr. Whapham has been in Toledo for about a year and a half, and is developing a regional telemedicine program for Mercy that experts say will break ground. Mercy officials said the program wont focus only on connecting doctors remotely to stroke victims. They plan to train doctors who specialize in cardiac, critical care, and trauma to use Vinnie in the hospitals emergency room and in other critical-care units, said Julie Georgoff, Mercy administrator of orthopedics and neuroscience.
Most telemedicine robots that you cant drive cost about $50,000, Ms. Georgoff said. Units like Vinnie can cost more than $100,000 because they can be driven remotely by a doctor. There is an even more advanced model, RPVITA, that can drive itself, memorize a hospitals layout, and navigate its way on to elevators, Dr. Whapham said.
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Mercys new robot can save lives