A review of telemedicine solutions to acute care in the pre-hospital setting

Pre-hospital acute healthcare is the provision of emergent healthcare outside of a hospital or clinical environment where resources or access to tertiary care may be forthcoming, delayed or non-existent. Telemedicine has been shown to be effective in improving the management of emergencies in pre-hospital care. The potential to: 1) facilitate the avoidance of unnecessary emergency transport, 2) improve patient care in the hospital, and 3) enhance the capabilities of first responder and medical personnel capabilities, is magnified dramatically when using telemedical technologies. This paper summarizes telemedicine research in the pre-hospital setting, targets specific examples of the clinical use of these technologies. High-fidelity medical simulation is highlighted as a means for overcoming barriers to future clinical research. Furthermore, special attention will be paid to the transferability of this research into developing solutions for human spaceflight, a unique pre-hospital environment.