Photo credit: Warman Fire and Rescue

A new technology trial is helping patients needing transport by STARS to get more precise diagnosis and quicker care. Transport Physician, Dr. Dallas Pearson explains that STARS has launched a virtual critical care trial across the province. Through a private video platform, doctors and specialists can see the condition of the patient, rather than trying to describe it over the phone.

Dr. Pearson says it gives doctors the ability to see more precisely what is happening, and then there is more confidence in the advice they are providing. Sometimes the physicians even stay on the video to watch the treatment and then watch the patient stabilize. He believes it is especially useful when the patients are babies or toddlers, because they can’t speak for themselves.

Dr. Pearson believes virtual technology is the future. He says, “All of the modern world is going in this direction if they haven’t gone this way already, and we are getting out front of this in Saskatchewan with the Saskatchewan Health Authority, STARS, and Air Ambulance, which also has access to this technology.  He stresses that the private video platform conforms to the provincial health standards around privacy.