"Prior to the new electronic stethoscope, if I visited a patient with the robot, the nurses would still have to describe to me what patients' heart and breath sounds were like," said Rodney Hill, MD, pulmonary and critical care specialist. "Today, I can utilize the electronic stethoscope from a remote location and hear for myself exactly what I would be hearing if I was actually in the room."
Nationally recognized hospitals located on the fast-paced East Coast or trend-setting West Coast are known for their state-of-the-art health care facilities and equipment. However, many people would never expect that one of today's most revolutionary pieces of medical technology, the RP-7(TM) telerounding robot and its new electronic stethoscope, is being most highly utilized at a Kansas City-area hospital.
SMMC was one of only 12 hospital systems in the nation to purchase its first robot in March 2005 -- then the RP-6 model -- in an attempt to increase patient-physician communication. Today, the hospital has five RP-7 units and is the first in the world where physicians can simultaneously listen to patients' heartbeats from remote locations using an electronic stethoscope (made by RNK Products, Inc.).
The RP-7 robot, designed to increase patient-physician communication by improving physician efficiency, quality of care and patient satisfaction, looks similar to a large wireless mobile platform with a flat screen monitor mounted on top as the "head." Connected to the Internet via the hospital's secure wireless network, the RP-7 system includes a two-way video feed, a microphone and a speaker. When in use, the physician's face is displayed on the computer monitor. Each robot is guided by a physician using a joystick from a computerized ControlStation in another location, most often the physician's home or office.
