Remote-Control Medicine

Primary care doctors and specialists are in great demand. Many are spread too thin, and in some places, there just aren’t enough of them to go around. The medical community is bracing for the huge wave of aging baby boomers, who will need more care and attention as they get older. Some physicians are looking to technology to stretch their services to more patients, and that’s where “telemedicine” comes in.

Both doctors and patients are finding ways to take advantage of the Internet and wireless communication to stay connected to healthcare providers and family members. Telemedicine -- or telehealth -- is a broad term, and it takes many shapes. Kerry Grens, senior health and science reporter for WHYY in Philadelphia, recently reported on the way some hospitals are using these new tools, and she joins us on Word of Mouth to talk about them.

Click here to listen to Kerry's original report.

Click here to visit WHYY's health and science page.

Click here to read a Scripps-Howard article about telemedicine that ran in the Nashua Telegraph.

The New York Times recently ran an article that explains other ways patients and their families use telemedicine. Click here to read it.

(Photo by brykmantra)