Telemedicine In Brazil

Hey everyone! My name’s Rollin Say, and I’m a rising senior studying economics and global health. I’m hoping to attend medical school after my time at Duke, but for this summer, I’m in Brazil. My project here involves researching the effects of telemedicine in remote and rural communities. Now you may not be too familiar with telemedicine, so I’ll give a quick introduction. Briefly, telemedicine is the extension of health care resources through the use of a telecommunications network. While this may be as simple as picking up the phone to call your doctor’s office for some quick advice, telemedicine has vast potential in providing care to remote locations around the world. A community that has few health care resources can be connected to doctors and specialists located in urban areas. These doctors may then provide consultation or diagnosis. The applications of telemedicine are nearly endless, and projects for telecardiology, teleradiology, and teledermatology have already been introduced in many countries, including the United States.

As you may see, telemedicine is a passion of mine. I first started investigating telemedicine and its potential effects almost two years ago. Intrigued, I followed my curiosity by planning a DukeEngage individual project, which I carried out last summer. It was then that I first came to Brazil and to the Edumed Institute. The Edumed Institute is a non-profit organization located in Campinas, a city near São Paulo. Headed by Brazilian professor Dr. Renato Sabbatini, the company provides telemedicine and telehealth solutions, including online health education and more direct interventions.

My project, in conjunction with Edumed, is to measure how a remote Brazilian community in the Amazon basin reacts to the introduction of a telemedicine system. I will be collecting data on the health status and health attitudes of the Lake Cuniã community, located in the state of Rondonia. This community is relatively small, consisting of only 100 households, but they are in dire need of medical support. The current system of “health care” involves a single health agent working in a three-room health outpost, and monthly visits from doctors on traveling boats who can only get to the community during the rainy seasons.

The telemedicine introduced by the Edumed Institute could dramatically improve the access to and quality of health care for the community. Determining the extent of the effect is the basis of my senior thesis in economics and this research project.

I just arrived in Brazil on Saturday morning, and today is my first day here in Edumed. On Friday we will meet with a collaborating organization to plan the trip to the Lake Cuniã community, where I will be staying during the second half of my time here in Brazil. In the meantime, I will continue to refine my instruments and translate them into Portuguese.

Best wishes to all of you, and to my fellow Global Health adventurers around the globe!

Até logo,

– Rollin Say