COLUMBUS, Ohio - In just a few weeks, stroke patients who are taken to Mount Carmel East Hospital may be treated by a doctor located miles away. At the same time, that doctor will be bedside -- all thanks to a robot.

The staff at Mount Carmel East is training in a new way to treat patients faster. Soon, it will become the first hospital in the state to use a robot in a clinical setting, allowing specialists to be in two places at once, 10TV News reported.

When patients come to emergency rooms with stroke symptoms, it's a true emergency and doctors said robots could make it easier and faster to treat victims.

"This is so critical because time is brain," said Neurologist Dr. Jean Cibula. "Millions of neurons die in the minutes following a stroke and the sooner we can get a patient to intervention, then the more brain we can save."

If the doctor is out of the hospital when a patient arrives, the robot goes into action.

From a remote location, the doctor flips open a laptop and guides the robot to the patient's bed. The doctor then sees the patient through a camera attached to the screen.

"Actually, they're really not talking to the robot," said Dr. Mark Hackman, vice president for Medical Affairs at Mount Carmel East. "They're talking to the physician. The robot is just a tool.
I'd say it's a pretty revolutionary change."

During the exam, a doctor listens to a patient's heartbeat through a stethoscope synched to headphones. Doctors say all of these advances allow for a faster diagnosis, which means faster treatment and a better chance for recovery.

"A picture's worth a thousand words," Cibula said. "While I need to lay my hands on the patient sooner or later, at least this will give us a good head start."

Hackman said the hospital plans to use the robots in the Intensive Care Unit when a patient's health suddenly declines, and the specialist is miles away.

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