DOCTORS READY TO DO ROUNDS BY VIDEO LINK IN RURAL HOSPITAL

In rural P.E.I., a small hospital is trying a first-in-Canada approach to delivering care that could offer a solution to doctor shortages across the country. Instead of a doctor doing hospital rounds in person, a nurse rolls in a TV cart with the physician on a video screen from an office elsewhere in the province or the country. Western Hospital in Alberton, P.E.I., has undertaken a six-month pilot. Doctors can even use a digital, bluetooth-enabled stethoscope applied by a nurse while a doctor listens remotely.