“A study supported by Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center and Boise State University in Idaho addresses the need for remote presence general surgery to help build surgery capacity in rural communities. For example, in Idaho, there are at least six critical access hospitals (CAH) with one or totally without a general surgeon in their operating room.
This is a serious problem for the U.S. in general since 20 to 25 percent of the U.S. population resides in rural areas, while only 10 percent of general surgeons practice in these areas. Today, rural populations have only 4.67 surgeons per 100,000 residents plus the fact that rural surgical residency training programs account for only 5 percent of all offered residency programs. In future years, the number of general surgeons in rural areas is expected to decline.”
Article
Carolyn Bloch, Federal Telemedicine News, 25 May 2011
