It Wasn’t About the Technology

How we’re trying to provide dermatology service for rural and remote communities and measure its effectiveness.

How can you bring dermatology to Telegraph Creek and show if it works? Access to dermatology consultation is constrained by any combination of time, distance, and money.  Our project has been 10 years in the making and uses a variety of communications technology to provide consultation with doctors and nurse practitioners in rural and remote communities of BC (as defined in the 2019 Physicians Master Agreement) to meet our obligations for access “without financial or other barriers” (as defined by Paragraph 3 of the Canada Health Act).  We put together a prototype out of available parts and began providing service and collecting data in May 2020. I will present our results to date and interesting problems including measurement.  We think we’re winning but would like to test whether this is true with an audience “versed in the art.”