Clown Doctors go bush via technology

 

Clown Doctors in Brisbane “visited” children in Mount Isa and Emerald without leaving The Royal Children´s Hospital in Brisbane. This was made possible by The Centre for Online Health (COH), part of the University of Queensland, which is developing models in online health care, especially telehealth.

 

Telehealth, the delivery of health services at a distance, uses various communication techniques, including video conferencing. The COH has established a telepaediatric service, available to some regional and remote hospitals in Queensland. This service is proving extremely valuable for children and adolescents in rural and regional areas of Queensland, including improving access to specialist health care services and reducing the need for families to travel to Brisbane. Recently the Brisbane Clown Doctor program became an experimental part of this service using one of the two studios equipped with high quality video conferencing facilities.

 

 

   

As can be seen in the photographs, the screen on the left is what the Clown Doctors see via a wireless, mobile videoconferencing system, encased in a child friendly Robot body which they control and the screen on the right is what the children in the country hospital see.  Dr Kerfuffle, Dr Tickle Me Please, Dr B Bubbly and Dr Gizmo had fun "visiting" children in various wards.  In one ward the children were asleep, so they came back later.  The wonders of technology!