Telemedicine, a technology that allows doctors to see patients through a screen, is now being used in four South Carolina prisons.
In a partnership between the Medical University of South Carolina and the state’s Department of Corrections, the program is designed to address needs while being a cheaper, safer, more convenient alternative.
Director of the D.O.C. Bryan Sterling said this is especially helpful for prisons because of the lack of resources when placed in rural areas of the state.
“South Carolina made a decision, like many states, to put prisons in rural areas. and it’s good for jobs, but like many rural areas, primary care physicians, there’s not a lot of them,” he said. “We’re having to use technology to service these areas.”
He said it is convenient for both patient and doctor, as well as saving the taxpayer money and avoiding any false situations.
“Either the doctor would have to travel the two hours which is four there and back and then have to go through security,” he said. “In addition to getting [the inmate] out of the cell, and shaking them down, making sure they don’t have contraband going out and making sure they don’t have the contraband coming back in.”
Dr. Ed O’Bryan with MUSC has been working with telemedicine for the last year. He has also had prior experience with a county prison in Charleston.
“We’ve had several inmates who had called us for emergency situations but didn’t need to be transferred,” O’Bryan said. “They would have originally been transferred to the emergency department but instead, we’re able to hold them in place, get the appropriate testing. and keep them in their facility, and really that saves a lot of taxpayer money at the end of the day.”
He said patience have given him positive feedback on the technology.
“Patient perception of satisfaction has been very, very high, well into the 90th percentile. Some people actually prefer this kind of technology.”
Date: July 06, 2016