TAMUNING, Guam (GMHA) — Guam Memorial Hospital Authority is proud to be celebrating the one-year anniversary of utilizing telemedicine to bring stateside physicians and specialists virtually to patient bedsides, right here on Guam.
As part of GMHA’s relentless pursuit of providing excellent, accessible healthcare to our island, the hospital has been leading the way, using Critical Care physicians (Intensivist) based in the Continental U.S., to ensure the highest quality, around-the-clock care for GMH’s sickest patients.
What was born out of necessity during the Covid-19 pandemic, is now a staple feature in our Intensive Care Unit. GMHA’s telemedicine program is expanding to include hospitalists, pediatricians, and outpatient specialists.
“Although Covid is still a hard-fought battle for our community, telemedicine may be one of the few silver linings. The amount of resources that are necessary for us to carry out our hospital’s mission and the challenges we face have made it clear that we have no limits. GMHA has worked tirelessly to break barriers to provide more opportunities for medical care for our people, and telemedicine will forever improve our bedside care,” said Dr. Joleen M. Aguon, pulmonary & critical care physician, Covid medical director and associate administrator of clinical services.
In the past year, GMHA has faced double, and sometimes triple, the pre-Covid ICU patient census, going from 6-8 patients on average, to a whopping 14+ during Covid and even reaching 28 at the height of our surges.
In addition to GMHA’s fantastic on-the-ground clinical teams, telemedicine has allowed for specialty care and advice from physicians otherwise not available on Guam. It also means around-the-clock physician care and monitoring for critical patients.
“While we continue our dedicated efforts recruiting physicians to Guam, we know that attracting specialists can be challenging, particularly during a pandemic, when national talent banks are depleted. At GMHA, the recruitment challenge only fuels us to find new and innovative ways to still ‘bring’ the highest quality healthcare providers to our hospital, to support our incredible in-house team. Telemedicine is the leading edge of healthcare and we’re proud to have these capabilities at our hospital,” said Lillian Perez-Posadas, GMHA CEO.
With an expansion of the hospitalist telemedicine program, GMHA is now able to reduce burnout among the in-person hospitalist physicians, who have worked tirelessly, and often without respite, throughout this pandemic. By having tele-physicians focus on admitting patients, GMHA’s in-person teams are leveled-up to focus on quality healthcare delivery.
“What was born out of necessity to reinforce our pandemic response is now a staple asset of our hospital and Intensive Care Unit,” said Governor Lou Leon Guerrero. “The expansion of this lifesaving program has significantly reduced burnout among local attending physicians, who have continued working tirelessly to provide care to our people. Telemedicine has vastly improved their ability to focus on quality healthcare delivery, which is our shared priority, and we look forward to expanding this program further to make available additional hospitalists, pediatricians and outpatient specialists.”
GMHA’s telemedicine program also created the telemedicine technician positions: young pre-med students looking to gain hands-on experience they wouldn’t otherwise receive until their medical school practicums or residencies. Not only are these positions creating meaningful jobs for youth, but we are also laying the crucial foundations of quality healthcare into the educational journey. These young professionals will complete medical school and come back to practice at the very hospital that afforded them their first taste of practical medicine; we’re here for the long-term and building our future healthcare leaders.
The past year of telemedicine at GMHA has given us the knowledge, insight and know-how to lead as a Subject Matter Expert in the technology and support access for more isolated, remote outer islands.
GMHA’s Clinical Informatics Team is currently in conversation with various small islands, as well as Taiwan and Australia to strengthen the telemedicine abilities in the region overall. While still in its infancy, GMHA’s dedication and grit in the pursuit to better healthcare quality for Guam, has led to many more opportunities for island residents and sister islands as well.
For more information, go to:
https://tinyurl.com/TELEMEDTIMELINE
https://tinyurl.com/TELEMEDPROGRAM
