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Bariatric surgery using a network and teleconferencing to serve remote patients in the Veterans Administration Health Care System: feasibility and results

2011; Elsevier BV; Volume: 202; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.amjsurg.2010.06.016

1879-1883

Ranjan Sudan, Mary Salter, Thomas G. Lynch, Danny O. Jacobs,

Gastric Cancer Management and Outcomes

Previously, Midwestern veteran patients had limited bariatric surgery access because they lived long distances from a bariatric surgery center (BSC). The creation and outcomes of a network to increase bariatric surgery access and patient satisfaction with teleconsultation are discussed.Several referring Midwestern Veterans Affairs Medical Centers (VAMCs) performed pre- and postoperative management and were linked by teleconferencing and a computerized patient record system to a single BSC.Twenty-eight high-risk patients (older, male) residing an average distance of 324.5 miles from the BSC underwent gastric bypass. Eighty-two percent used teleconferencing for the initial surgical consultation with excellent patient satisfaction saving at least 19,000 miles and 69 travel days. Surgical outcomes were equivalent and follow-up was excellent (96.6%) compared with non-Veterans Affairs patients.A cooperative network using teleconference and computerized records facilitated bariatric surgery in high-risk, remotely located VA patients with high patient satisfaction and without compromising surgical outcomes.