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Explore the vast landscape of telemedicine, from its applications and advantages to its challenges and effectiveness. Learn about telehealth, teleradiology, telepathology, and remote monitoring devices. Discover how telemedicine is revolutionizing healthcare delivery and bridging the gap in medical services.
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Technology in Medicine • Computers in health care • Medical information systems • Administrative applications • Office management systems • Clinical and special purpose systems
Other Applications • Computer-assisted surgery • Prosthetics • Pharmacy
Computer-assisted surgery • Computer-assisting surgical planning • Robotics • Minimally invasive surgery • endoscopic surgery • laparoscopic surgery
Prosthetic Devices • Myoelectric limbs • Microprocessors • Computer technology for vision and hearing
The Computerized Pharmacy • Computers and drug errors • The automated community pharmacy • Hospital pharmacy robot and bar-codes • Point-of-use drug dispensing
Radiology and Digital Imaging • X-rays • Traditional vs. digital x-ray • Mammography • Ultrasound • Digital imaging • Computerized tomography • Magnetic resonance imaging • Positron emission tomography
Bloodless surgery • Interventional radiology • Stereotactic radiosurgery • Focused ultrasound surgery
Telemedicine • Definition: “The use of computers, the Internet, and other communication technologies to provide medical care to patients at a distance.” • Forms: • Voice • Data • Still images • Motion picture
Telemedicine • Includes: • Diagnoses • Patient monitoring • Treatments
Telemedicine • Telehealth: • Larger field that includes health-related education • public health research • health services administration
Telemedicine • Advantages: • Brings high quality medical care to anyone regardless of distance • Decreases patient wait time • Decreases patient travel time
Telemedicine • Teleradiology: Oldest form of telemedicine using computers and telecommunications . • Interactive video conferencing: Conferencing that allows medical professionals and patients to consult in real-time, using telephones and video screens.
Telemedicine • Telepathology: Transmission of microscopic images over telecommunications lines allowing the pathologist to view images on a monitor instead of under a microscope. • Telepsychiatry: Uses teleconferencing to deliver psychotherapy. May not be suitable for some types of mental illness.
Telemedicine • Remote monitoring devices • Telespironmetry- • used for asthma patients • information transmitted over telephone lines to remote location • Arrhythmia monitoring • ECG telemetry that monitors a patient’s cardiac status and sends it to a remote location
Effectiveness of Telemedicine • Examining a patient at a distance is not the same as examining that patient face to face • In prisons, telemedicine has led to decreased costs and improved health care for inmates
Effectiveness of Telemedicine • Medical assistants at the remote sites may be useful • Small hospitals and clinics may find hardware costs prohibitive • Research studies generally favorable for medical and cost effectiveness
Use of Telemedicine • Health care to the elderly (homebound) • Connect rural primary care physicians to urban specialists • Allow families of high-risk newborns to watch babies’ hospital care from home • Data can be transmitted from ambulance to ER • Patients with chronic illnesses can receive medication reminders at home
Issues in Telemedicine • Technical issues • appropriate telecommunications infrastructure must be in place • not available in some rural and urban areas • requires high bandwidth (cable modem)
Issues in Telemedicine • Insurance issues • insurance may not coverall telemedicine • Legal issues • licensing laws differ in each state • liability is not clear • Privacy issues • electronic medical record subject to misuse • HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)
