Disaster Planning? Telemedicine Is the Way to Go

After reconstructive surgery at the Rawalpindi medical facility, patients were sent back to tent facilities in the mountains to recover. Surgeons were even able to send patients with complex orthopedic repairs to the mountains, knowing that staff would be able to telecommunicate about the patients' status and any postsurgical problems that arose.

“They never did overwhelm the hospital,” Dr. Merrell said. “They were able to use telecommunications to move patients down out of the mountains for definitive care and get them out and back to the mountains in a fraction of the usual time—in about 48 hours.”