Current Issue : January - March Volume : 2015 Issue Number : 1 Articles : 5 Articles
The current trend in health monitoring systems is to move from the hospital to portable personal devices. This work shows how\nconsumer devices like heart rate monitors can be used not only for applications in sports, but also for medical research and\ndiagnostic purposes. The goal pursued by our group was to develop a simple, accurate, and inexpensive system that would use\na few pieces of data acquired by the heart rate monitor and process them on a smartphone to (i) provide detailed test reports about\nthe user�s health state; (ii) store report records; (iii) generate emergency calls or SMSs; and (iv) connect to a remote telemedicine\nportal to relay the data to an online database.Thesystem developed by our teamuses sophisticated algorithms to detect stress states,\ndetect and classify arrhythmia events, and calculate energy consumption. It is suitable for use by elderly subjects and by patients\nwith heart disease (e.g., those recovering from myocardial infarction) or neurological conditions such as Parkinson�s disease. Easy,\nimmediate, and economical remote health control can therefore be achieved without the need for expensive hospital equipment,\nusing only portable consumer devices....
The demand for new healthcare services is growing rapidly. Improving accessibility of the African population to diabetes care\nseems to be a big challenge in most countries where the number of care centers and medical staff is reduced. Information and\ncommunication technologies (ICT) have great potential to address some of these challenges faced by several countries in providing\naccessible, cost-effective, and high-quality health care services. This paper presents the Mobil Diab system which is a telemedical\napproach proposed for the management of long-term diseases. The system applies modern mobile and web technologies which\novercome geographical barriers, and increase access to health care services. The idea of the system is to involve patients in the\ntherapy process andmotivate them for an active participation. For validation of the system in African context, a trial was conducted\nin the Democratic Republic of Congo. 40 Subjects with diabetes divided randomly into control and intervention groups were\nincluded in the test. Results show that Mobil Diab is suitable for African countries and presents a number of benefits for the\npopulation and public health care system. It improves clinical management and delivery of diabetes care services by enhancing\naccess, quality, motivation, reassurance, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness....
Objective. To assess the use of cell phones and email as means of communication between pregnant women and their gynecologists\nand family physicians. Study Design. A cross-sectional study of pregnant women at routine followup. One hundred and twenty\nwomen participated in the study. Results. The mean age was 27.4 �± 3.4 years. One hundred nineteen women owned a cell phone and\n114 (95%) had an email address. Seventy-two women (60%) had their gynecologistâ��s cell phone number and 50 women (42%) had\ntheir family physicianâ��s cell phone number. More women contacted their gynecologist via cell phone or email during pregnancy\ncompared to their family physician (???? = 0.005 and 0.009, resp.). Most preferred to communicate with their physician via cell\nphone at predetermined times, but by email at any time during the day (???? < 0.0001). They would use cell phones for emergencies\nor unusual problems but preferred email for other matters (???? < 0.0001). Conclusions. Pregnant women in the Negev region do\nnot have a preference between the use of cell phones or email for medical consultation with their gynecologist or family physician.\nThe provision of the physicianâ��s cell phone numbers or email address together with the provision of guidelines and resources could\nimprove healthcare services....
Introduction. Video consultation (VC) can improve access to specialist care, especially for individuals who live in rural areas that\nare long distances from specialist clinics. Aim. The aim of this study was to describe patientsââ?¬â?¢ experiences with specialist care\nvia VC encounters. Method. Interviews were conducted with 26 patients who had participated in a VC encounter.The data were\nanalysed using thematic content analysis. Result.The analysis resulted in two themes. The theme ââ?¬Å?confident with the technologyââ?¬Â\nwas constructed from the categories ââ?¬Å?possibilities and obstacles in using VC encountersââ?¬Â and ââ?¬Å?advantages and disadvantages of\nthe technology.ââ?¬ÂThe theme ââ?¬Å?personal satisfaction with the VC encountersââ?¬Â was constructed from the categories ââ?¬Å?support from the\nhealthcare personnel,ââ?¬Â ââ?¬Å?perceived security,ââ?¬Â and ââ?¬Å?satisfaction with the specialist consultation.ââ?¬Â Conclusion.The patients who did not\nthink that the VC was the best care still considered that the visit was adequate because they did not have to travel. An important\nfinding was that the patientsââ?¬â?¢ perceived even short distances to specialty care as expensive journeys because many patients had\nlow incomes. Among the patients who had more than one VC, the second encounter was perceived as safer. Additionally, good\ncommunication was essential for the patientââ?¬â?¢s perception of security during the VC encounter...
There is a gradual decline in concern of specialists who follow up the care of pregnant women with diabetes. In addition, due to\nthe dwindling economic resources allocated to health services, access to specialized healthcare facilities is becomingmore difficult.\nTelemedicine, or medicine practiced at a distance, is inserted in this context with applications differing for type of interaction\n(real-time or deferred, i.e., videoconferencing versus store-and-forward data transmission), type of monitoring (automatic versus\nrequesting cooperation from the patient), and type of devices used (web connections and use of mobile phones or smartphones).\nTelemedicine can cope with the current lack of ability to ensure these patients frequent direct contact with their caregivers. This\napproachmay have an impact not only on the classicalmaternal-fetal outcome, but also on some underestimated aspects of patients\nwith diabetes in pregnancy, in this case their quality of life, the perception of ââ?¬Å?diabetes self-efficacy,ââ?¬Â and the glycemic variability. In\nthis paper, we will analyze the current evidence regarding the use of telemedicine in pregnancies complicated by diabetes, trying\nto highlight the main limitations of these studies and possible strategies to overcome them in order to improve the effectiveness of\nfuture clinical interventions with these medical applications....
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