The Women and Newborns Clinical Program made significant strides in using TeleHealth technology to rapidly treat newborn babies. TeleHealth, which consists of using audio and video resources to link clinicians at different facilities, is being used to assist clinicians when conducting consultations and aid in the resuscitation of infants in respiratory distress. Approximately 1 to 2 percent of newborns require extended resuscitations after birth at Intermountain facilities. TeleHealth helps clinicians connect and ensure best practices are followed when rural hospitals encounter these serious events.

Direct benefits of using TeleHealth in a neonatal setting:

  • Better stabilization of newborns, resulting in improved outcomes
  • Reductions in unnecessary patient transfers to larger facilities when care can be given on-site with TeleHealth assistance
  • Reduced costs to patients by avoiding complications inherent with respiratory distress

Secondary benefits of using TeleHealth to deliver care:

  • Improved communication and relationship building between Level III nurseries and rural hospitals
  • Promoting better consistency and training by sharing best practices more effectively across regions
  • Improvements in both confidence and competencies during a newborn resuscitation, which for our rural hospitals is a high-risk, low-frequency event