Bring telemedicine practitioners into the fold

Given the physical barriers telemedicine poses to conventional credentialing, privileging, and peer review approaches, it’s important to pave new paths for confirming competence and fostering collegiality among all practitioners with ties to a facility. Empower distant practitioners to not only participate in, but also guide, the launch of the new telemedicine program. If they’re within visiting range, invite them to attend medical staff events.

Because St. Jude Medical Center’s new telepsychiatrist is based locally, the chief of staff invited him to the hospital’s medical executive committee meeting “to talk about how this is going to look and what it’s going to entail,” says Cindy Radcliffe, CPMSM, director of medical staff services at the Fullerton, California hospital. Face time with the psychiatrist improved buy-in from long-standing medical staff members, who were able to voice their concerns and questions to the person pioneering the telemedicine program. The meeting also acclimated the psychiatrist to the community that he would be frequenting from afar, strengthening his in-vestment in and comfort with the job.