A new audio healthcare service at Fort Campbell’s Blanchfield Army Community Hospital is underbooked. Hospital Commander Telita Crosland says it may that there is not a great need for the service or just that people are unaware of it. She says the service rolled out last month as a way to provide patients in the hospital's broad coverage area with more convenient access to healthcare.
“I feel that for patients who wake up in the morning and they have a sick child and they’re trying to make a call on whether they’re going to call in to work or not, this may be a good resource to help them get definitive care so that they can make a decision and go on with the rest of their day,” Crosland said.
Patients can use audio appointments to address basic health needs that don’t require face to face interactions, like minor burns, cold symptoms, nausea, and painful urination.
“One of the challenges in medicine that has evolved is a good chunk of our beneficiaries don’t live on Fort Campbell,” Crosland said. “We have a clinic out in the community but it’s not big enough to take care of all those patients. So we give those patients more opportunities to get healthcare without having to come in.”
Crosland says the military is looking into virtual care, similar to a video conference, for deployed soldiers. But she says this audio service is separate from that research. Crosland says the audio appointments are also different from a nurse advice line because patients talk with a health care provider who has the patient’s medical record on hand.
For the hospital, Crosland says the phone appointments may save time and resources as well as free up nursing staff by reducing walk-ins. Another benefit is that the service is cost-effective. “It didn’t really cost us anything to pilot this other than time and reorganizing our work flow,” Crosland said.
Crosland says those who have used the audio service say they like its convenience. She says the hospital will reassess the service’s value this fall.
Audio appointments are only available for people between the ages of 2 and 65. Patients with a chronic illness or who are immunocompromised, wheezing, or bleeding are not able to book audio appointments.
Audio Appointment Symptoms
- Seasonal Allergies
- Burns, minor
- Constipation
- Cough
- Cold Symptoms
- Diarrhea
- Follow up for Emergency Room visit in past two weeks at BACH
- Nausea
- Nasal Congestion
- Painful/Frequent Urination
- Possible pink eye (itchy, watery, irritated, red eyes with possible discharge)
- Sore Throat
- Vaginal Yeast Symptoms (irritation, thick/white discharge, 16 years or older)
- Vomiting
