It has always been an important policy of the Chinese government to provide aid and assistance for the development of Tibet. With nearly one-eighth of China’s total land areas and about 0.002% of China’s total population, the Tibet Autonomous Region lags behind the domestic average level in medical education and is in bad need for medical professionals. The West China Center of Medical Sciences (WCCMS) of Sichuan University has managed to introduce US projects to set up the West China–Tibet Telemedical Education System to transmit medical courses in a real-time and interactive way. Based on this system, WCCMS has established a model for assisting the Tibet University Medical College through transmitting medical courses, training their medical faculty, sending WCCMS faculty to work in Tibet and admitting medical teachers and students from Tibet to study and be trained at West China Medical School and Hospital.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of long-distance medical intervention on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) assessment test (CAT) scores of stable COPD patients. MethodsA total of 244 stable COPD patients treated in our hospital between November 2011 and November 2012 were randomly divided into two groups with 122 in each. Group one was treated with long-distance medical intervention and group two with route nursing care. CAT scores were obtained at discharge from hospital and 3 months later. ResultsBaseline CAT scores of the two groups were respectively 23.99±8.03 and 22.14±7.71 with no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05). Three months later, CAT scores of the two groups were respectively 17.54±7.83 and 20.93±7.21, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). ConclusionThe CAT score of stable COPD patients can be improved by long-distance medical invention.
The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 has become a public health emergency of global concern, posing a great threat to people’s health. As a state-level large-scale general hospital with rich medical rescue experience in dealing with emergent public health events, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and earthquake, West China Hospital of Sichuan University quickly established six working mechanisms for telemedicine. West China Hospital of Sichuan University set up a team of clinicians to provide multi-disciplinary telemedicine consultation, telemedicine education and joint rounds on line with the 5th generation mobile networks, which designed to help estimate patients’ condition, innovate the mode of diagnosis and treatment, and improve service efficiency in remote institutions including preferred hospitals for coronavirus disease 2019 patients in Sichuan Province and telemedicine alliance units outside the province.