8,000 Cases and 165 Consultants:
The Story of Phyllis Webster,
A Telemedicine Case Coordinator
By J a n e Er i k s o n o n
January 1, 2015
Graduate school or full-time job?
T
hat was the question Phyllis
Webster was pondering after
getting her bachelor’s degree in
cultural and biological anthropology from
the University of Arizona. In late 1996,
she opted for full-time job, as a research
specialist with the newly formed Arizona
Telemedicine Program (ATP).
“I didn’t really know anything at all about
the practice of telemedicine, and in the
beginning, it was a difficult concept
to visualize,” Phyllis recalls. “I had no
background or interest in technology. It
was the medical field environment and
patient care aspects that were appealing
to me.”
Six months after joining ATP, Phyllis was
appointed as one of two telemedicine
case coordinators, working with ATP
Medical Director Ana Maria López, MD, to
facilitate multispecialty teleconsultations
for ATP’s eight charter sites in Arizona.
That was approximately 8,000 cases ago.
“Over the last 18 years, I have had the
distinct pleasure of working with 165
consultants – most of whom were
University of Arizona College of Medicine
faculty – in 51 subspecialty areas,” she
says.
She recalls two cases that demonstrate
“how broad and richly diverse these
applications can be. And that translates to
an increased number of patients that can
be served.”
In one case, the clinic office received
an urgent request from a referring
site neonatologist wanting a pediatric
echocardiology evaluation on a baby that
was in trouble.
“We were able to facilitate a
consultation by one of our pediatric
cardiologists within a very short period
of time,” she recalls. “During the realtime echocardiogram, the baby was
discovered to have complex cardiac
abnormalities and a recommendation
was made for immediate transfer to
University of Arizona Medical Center.
The referring neonatologist and our
pediatric cardiologists were able to view
and discuss the findings as they were
revealed in the study, and everyone
was on the same page from the get-go.
Arrangements for transfer and admission
were made in advance, which further
enhanced efficiency.”
“It can be easy to
get caught up in the
technology, but it is
simply a wonderful
tool that enables us
to communicate with,
and provide care to,
patients.”
– Phyllis Webster
The second case involved a woman who
lived in a rural community and suffered
from a severe and chronic skin condition.
The patient was so self-conscious about
her appearance that she rarely went out
in public.
The woman agreed to a teledermatology
consult via store-and-forward, highresolution digital imaging, and followup visits via real-time, interactive
videoconferencing. Following the
consulting
dermatologist’s
treatment
recommendations,
the patient’s
condition
improved steadily
and markedly over the course
of a few months, Phyllis says.
“She was no longer embarr