November 2004

Phone technology is plastic fantastic

Mobile phone technology is helping improve patient care at Dandenong Hospital.

Doctors in the Emergency Department are using mobile phones to send pictures of plastic surgery cases to the hospital’s plastic surgeons who then provide quick analysis and diagnosis.

Using the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), pictures are sent from one mobile phone to another allowing the plastic surgeon to see the problem.

Having received the MMS, the plastic surgeon, registrar or consultant—who could be located at another Southern Health site—can instruct the Emergency Department on the appropriate care.

This might include a CT scan, admission to hospital or treatment on another occasion.

The system is helping shorten waiting times in the Emergency Department and is more convenient and faster than using digital cameras and computers.

And with a picture of the wound already taken, there is little need for repeated inspections, reducing the chances of infection and less painful for the patient.

‘One of the limiting factors in the use of digital images is the need to be at a computer to send or receive these images,’ said Head of Plastic Surgery at Dandenong Hospital Simon Donahoe.

‘The advent of mobile phones that can send and receive images has introduced a new level of flexibility.’

‘This really is at the forefront of patient management and is playing an integral part in helping streamline the care of plastic surgery patients presenting to the Emergency Department,’ Dr Donahoe said.