Telemedicine as an opportunity for improving the professional activity of medical specialists working in the emergency medical centres and emergency medical affiliate

Abstract

Telemedicine allows highly specialized medical advice to be provided in case of emergency medical assistance, when there is no doctor in the Emergency Medical Affiliates (EMA) teams or it is necessary to have specialized medical advice. To study, analyze and summarize the opinion of the medical specialists working in the EMC, related to the effectiveness of telemedicine for improving the quality of their professional activity. The study was conducted through a direct anonymous survey in of 2019 with 50 medical specialists working in the Emergency Medical Centers and the EMA in Bulgaria. The study found out: the respondents believe that introducing telemedicine in pre-hospital emergency care will improve the quality of care, the respondents think that it will improve the work in EMC/EMA, located in remote areas and small villages; for of medical professionals telemedicine will be very effective while transporting a patient in the absence of a doctor at EMC/EMA; of the respondents indicate that they have performed activities requiring a higher professional status than theirs, and in such cases telemedicine would have helped; According to the respondents telemedicine will be most effective in the following emergency statuses: heart attack, birth, poisoning, pediatric patients, trauma and geriatric patients.