‘SHE IS IN THERE’: CONNECTING ACUTELY ILL INDIGENOUS CHILDREN WITH PEDIATRIC CRITICAL CARE SPECIALISTS USING REMOTE PRESENCE TECHNOLOGY
Date
2019-07-26
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
0000-0002-3895-0680
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
Indigenous children living in rural and remote Saskatchewan have limited access to pediatric specialty services. As such, they experience a high rate of medical transport out of their home communities. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action prioritized access to health care that is culturally safe, and community directed. Remote presence technology (RPT), a novel form of telemedicine, seeks to overcome the barriers of distance and time to improve health care access. RPT allows for direct patient visualization, examination, and communication between the urban specialists and the local health care providers and family members. This study is part of a larger community-based participatory research (CBPR) project that evaluated RPT as a method of pediatric acute health care delivery. A single medical case from the larger CBPR project was used to explore the lived experience of a child, family, local and urban health care provider using RPT for a pediatric acute health care consultation. The exploration employed phenomenology guided by Indigenous world view. Findings revealed themes related to the value of building local capacity for pediatric specialized care and the related broader advantages of Indigenous children staying home for health care. Finally, the study revealed that indeed the technology created access, however its successful reception into the specialist-child interaction, is inextricably linked to the specialist that embodies it practicing cultural humility in order to provide culturally safe care.
Description
Keywords
Indigenous
Children
Remote Presence Technology
Health Care
Citation
Degree
Master of Science (M.Sc.)
Department
Community Health and Epidemiology
Program
Community and Population Health Science