Telehealth Video Resource Center

"The Ohio Telehealth Video Resource Center will establish Ohio
as a center of excellence worldwide in videoconferencing
technologies and, at the same time, contribute to the improved
health and well-being of countless people throughout world."
-Ohio Governor Ted Strickland

TVRC Background

Challenge for Sustainability
As awareness and use of advanced networking within national and international health communities increases, the need for high-quality, easy-to-use and well-supported video resources to enhance these activities is increasing. Yet, the expertise and technology remains both expensive and difficult to acquire and maintain. As a not-for-profit entity, the products and suite of services created by the TVRC can provide significant benefit. However, the TVRC requires funding to enable the augmentation of existing infrastructure and to collect and ensure high quality educational content. Funding is achieved through membership, sponsorship and grants from government and philanthropic organizations.

The benefit of the TVRC resource is that the services it provides are diverse and can be deployed across culture and geography, benefiting a global populace.

Empowering Change
Telehealth has been shown to be a significant tool in the management of health across the international landscape. The use of high-quality video resources has proven to be of significant benefit in a wide range of applications in both clinical environments and the classroom. The application at Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s eNICU in Columbus, Ohio, provided high-definition video to permit neonatal experts to examine infants at rural, remote locations. This allowed attending physicians and specialists to collaborate to determine the appropriate course of action, often leaving an infant at their birth location and not needlessly transporting them. This has demonstrated improved outcomes and significant cost savings. The OARNet staff has provided video support for programs, such as the Road Trauma conferences, the John’s Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education and the World Bank’s activities, that have brought together experts from various countries around the world, including Tanzania, Egypt, Canada, Iraq, Brazil and Mexico.

In all cases, the services have supported the provision of educational and clinical experiences that would not have been possible otherwise, empowering all participants along the continuum of healthcare.

Collaborators for Knowledge Exchange
Medical Missions for Children (MMC) (www.mmissions.org) is a not-for-profit charity dedicated to serving the medical needs of catastrophically ill children in underserved international communities. Through the use of the Global Telemedicine and Teaching Network (GTTN), a satellite and Internet-based communications platform, MMC facilitates the real-time treatment of remote, critically ill children. The GTTN also broadcasts an extensive program of continuing medical education and supports telemedicine consults among a global network of medical specialists. The GTTN enables the pairing of pediatricians located at one or more of MMC’s mentor hospitals with attending physicians located at its recipient hospitals. MMC also addresses developing countries’ healthcare concerns through implementation of a multi-disciplinary medical education program. Tapping into the expertise of its partner medical centers, medical associations, and national institutes, MMC manages and broadcasts a world-class digital library of medical programs including live and pre-recorded lectures, symposia, grand rounds, and research seminars. Programming reaches medical content to physicians, residents, medical students, nurses and healthcare workers around the clock. In partnership with Internet2, MMC is forming the Hospital Sharing Network which will use high-quality video to provide educational programs for health care providers with access to the Internet2 network.

Health Sciences Online (HSO) (www.hso.info), a not-for-profit, is a Charter Member of the TVRC. It has more that 50,000 free health sciences learning objects, including hundreds of videos. These are hand-selected by clinicians from existing reliable sources and resource collections, including medical specialty societies, accredited continuing education organizations, governments, and universities. HSO founding collaborators include WHO, CDC, NATO, World Bank, and the American College of Preventive Medicine. Health providers and scientists have donated thousands of hours, identifying and making materials accessible for HSO users.

Strategy for Growth
TVRC is building on the expertise and credibility established by the OARNet staff and leading experts in telehealth. Through collaborations with the World Bank, the State of Ohio and industry, the Center’s growth strategies involve partnerships and memberships among customer base with unmet needs.