Frequency: Quarterly E- ISSN: 2277-8276 P- ISSN: Awaited Abstracted/ Indexed in: Ulrich's International Periodical Directory, Google Scholar, EBSCO Information Services
"Inventi Impact: Telemedicine" is an interdisciplinary journal of health sciences and information technology. Bridging the two, it aims eliminating the distance between health-seeker and health-provider. In healthcare, often the cost of traveling to the hospital, and living expenses over there, substantially supersede the direct cost i.e. the cost of treatment, medications or that of procedures. The cost of money and the time involved deprives masses from the benefit. "Inventi Impact: Telemedicine" aims to provide publishing space to all the advances leading to strengthening of telemedicine practices, with special emphasis on the inventions that would increase healthcare access to the underprivileged masses in underdeveloped or developing nations.
Background: Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and its control rate has remained low\nworldwide. Studies have found that telemonitoring blood pressure (BP) helped control hypertension in randomized\ncontrolled trials. However, little is known about its effect in a structured primary care model in which primary care\nphysicians (PCPs) are partnering with cardiology specialists in electronic healthcare data sharing and medical\ninterventions. This study aims to identify the effects of a coordinated PCP-cardiologist model that applies telemedicine\ntools to facilitate community hypertension control in China.\nMethods/design: Patients with hypertension receiving care at four community healthcare centers that are academically\naffiliated to Shanghai Chest Hospital, Shanghai JiaoTong University are eligible if they have had uncontrolled BP in the\nprevious 3 months and access to mobile Internet. Study subjects are randomly assigned to three interventional groups:\n(1) usual care; (2) home-based BP telemonitor with embedded Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)\nmodule and unlimited data plan, an app to access personal healthcare record and receive personalized lifestyle coaching\ncontents, and proficiency training of their use; or (3) this plus coordinated PCP-cardiologist care in which PCPs and\ncardiologists share data via a secure CareLinker website to determine interventional approaches. The primary\noutcome is mean change in systolic blood pressure over a 12-month period. Secondary outcomes are changes of\ndiastolic blood pressure, HbA1C, blood lipids, and medication adherence measured by the eight-item Morisky\nMedication Adherence Scale.\nDiscussion: This study will determine whether a coordinated PCP-Cardiologist Telemedicine Model that\nincorporates the latest telemedicine technologies will improve hypertension care. Success of the model would\nhelp streamline the present community healthcare processes and impact a greater number of patients with\nuncontrolled hypertension....
Background: Telemedicine (interconsultation between primary and hospital care teams)\nhas been operating in the counties of Central Catalonia Bages, Moianès and Berguedà since 2011,\nspecializing in teledermatology, teleulcers, teleophthalmology and teleaudiometries. For the period\nuntil the end of 2019, a total of 52,198 visits were recorded. Objective: To analyze the differential costs\nbetween telemedicine and usual care in a semi-urban environment..........................
Organizations in developed countries such as theUnited States of America andCanada face difficulties and challenges in technology\r\ntransfer from one organization to another; the complexity of problems easily compounds when such transfers are attempted from\r\ndeveloped to developing countries due to differing socioeconomic and cultural environments. There is a gap in the formation\r\nof research and education programs to address technology transfer issues that go beyond just transferring the technologies to\r\nsustaining such transfers for longer periods. This study examined telemedicine transfer challenges in three Sub-Sahara African\r\ncountries and developed a framework for sustainable implementation of e-medicine. Both quantitative and qualitative research\r\nmethods were used. The study findings indicate that e-medicine sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa is affected by institutional\r\nfactors such as institutional environment and knowledge management practices; technical factors such as the technological\r\nenvironment and technology transfer project environment; social environmental factors such as social environment and donor\r\ninvolvement. These factors were used to model the proposed framework....
With the outbreak of COVID-19, large-scale telemedicine applications can play an important role in the epidemic areas or less developed areas. However, the transmission of hundreds of megabytes of Sectional Medical Images (SMIs) from hospital’s Intranet to the Internet has the problems of efficiency, cost, and security. This article proposes a novel lightweight sharing scheme for permitting Internet users to quickly and safely access the SMIs from a hospital using an Internet computer anywhere but without relying on a virtual private network or another complex deployment. Methods. A four-level endpoint network penetration scheme based on the existing hospital network facilities and information security rules was proposed to realize the secure and lightweight sharing of SMIs over the Internet. A “Master-Slave” interaction to the interactive characteristics of multiplanar reconstruction and maximum/minimum/average intensity projection was designed to enhance the user experience. Finally, a prototype system was established. Results. When accessing SMIs with a data size ranging from 251.6 to 307.04MB with 200 kBps client bandwidth (extreme test), the network response time to each interactive request remained at approximately 1 s, the original SMIs were kept in the hospital, and the deployment did not require a complex process; the imaging quality and interactive experience were recognized by radiologists. Conclusions. This solution could serve Internet medicine at a low cost and may promote the diversified development of mobile medical technology. Under the current COVID-19 epidemic situation, we expect that it could play a low-cost and high-efficiency role in remote emergency support....
Background: The role of technology in health care delivery has grown rapidly in the last decade. The potential of mobile\ntelehealth (MTH) to support patient self-management is a key area of research. Providing patients with technological tools that\nallow for the recording and transmission of health parameters to health care professionals (HCPs) may promote behavior changes\nthat result in improved health outcomes. Although for some conditions the evidence of the effectiveness of MTH is clear, to date\nthe findings on the effects of MTH on diabetes management remain inconsistent.\nObjective: This study aims to evaluate an MTH intervention among insulin-requiring adults with diabetes to establish whether\nsupplementing standard care with MTH results in improved health outcomesââ?¬â?glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), blood pressure\n(BP), health-related quality of life (HRQoL), diabetes self-management behaviors, diabetes health care utilization, and diabetes\nself-efficacy and illness beliefs. An additional objective was to explore the acceptability of MTH and patientsââ?¬â?¢ perceptions of,\nand experience, using it.\nMethods: A mixed-method design consisting of a 9-month, two-arm, parallel randomized controlled trial (RCT) was used in\ncombination with exit qualitative interviews. Quantitative data was collected at baseline, 3 months, and 9 months. Additional\nintervention fidelity data, such as participantsââ?¬â?¢ MTH transmissions and contacts with the MTH nurse during the study, were also\nrecorded.\nResults: Data collection for both the quantitative and qualitative components of this study has ended and data analysis is ongoing.\nA total of 86 participants were enrolled into the study. Out of 86 participants, 45 (52%) were randomized to the intervention\ngroup and 36 (42%) to the control group. Preliminary data on MTH training sessions and MTH usage by intervention participants\nare presented in this paper. We expect to publish complete study results in 2015.\nConclusions: The range of data collected in this study will allow for a comprehensive evaluation of processes and outcomes.\nThe early results presented suggest that MTH usage decreases over time and that MTH participants would benefit from attending\nmore than one training session....
Home telehealth can improve clinical outcomes for conditions that are common among patients with spinal cord injury (SCI).\r\nHowever, little is known about the costs and potential savings associated with its use.We developed clinical scenarios that describe\r\ncommon situations in treatment or prevention of pressure ulcers. We calculated the cost implications of using telehealth for\r\neach scenario and under a range of reasonable assumptions. Data were gathered primarily from US Department of Veterans\r\nAffairs (VA) administrative records. For each scenario and treatment method, we multiplied probabilities, frequencies, and costs\r\nto determine the expected cost over the entire treatment period. We generated low-, medium-, and high-cost estimates based\r\non reasonable ranges of costs and probabilities. Telehealth care was less expensive than standard care when low-cost technology\r\nwas used but often more expensive when high-cost, interactive devices were installed in the patient�s home. Increased utilization\r\nof telehealth technology (particularly among rural veterans with SCI) could reduce the incidence of stage III and stage IV ulcers,\r\nthereby improving veterans� health and quality of care without increasing costs. Future prospective studies of our present scenarios\r\nusing patients with various healthcare challenges are recommended....
Recently, speech pattern analysis applications in building predictive tele diagnosis and tele monitoring models for diagnosing\nParkinsonââ?¬â?¢s disease (PD) have attracted many researchers. For this purpose, several data sets of voice samples exist; the UCI data set\nnamed ââ?¬Å?Parkinson Speech Data set with Multiple Types of Sound Recordingsââ?¬Â has a variety of vocal tests, which include sustained\nvowels, words, numbers, and short sentences compiled from a set of speaking exercises for healthy and people with Parkinsonââ?¬â?¢s\ndisease (PWP). Some researchers claim that summarizing the multiple recordings of each subject with the central tendency and\ndispersion metrics is an efficient strategy in building a predictive model for PD. However, they have overlooked the point that a PD\npatient may show more difficulty in pronouncing certain terms than the other terms.Thus, summarizing the vocal tests may lead\ninto loss of valuable information. In order to address this issue, the classification setting must take what has been said into account.\nAs a solution, we introduced a new framework that applies an independent classifier for each vocal test.The final classification result\nwould be a majority vote from all of the classifiers. When our methodology comes with filter-based feature selection, it enhances\nclassification accuracy up to 15%....
Workers in the oil and gas industry are exposed to numerous health risks, ranging from poor health behaviours to the possibility of life-threatening injuries. Determining the most appropriate models of healthcare for the oil and gas industry is difficult, as strategies must be acceptable to multiple stakeholders, including employees, employers, and local communities. The purpose of this review was to broadly explore the health status and needs of workers in the oil and gas industry and healthcare delivery models relating to primary care and emergency responses. Database searches of PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Scopus were conducted, as well as grey literature searches of Google, Google Scholar, and the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers website. Resource-sector workers, particularly those in ‘fly-in fly-out’ roles, are susceptible to poor health behaviours and a higher prevalence of mental health concerns than the general population. Evidence is generally supportive of organisation-led behaviour change and mental health-related interventions. Deficiencies in primary care received while on-site may lead workers to inappropriately use local health services. For the provision of emergency medical care, telehealth and telemedicine lead to favourable outcomes by improving patient health status and satisfaction and reducing the frequency of medical evacuations....
Uroflowmetry (UF) is a crucial guideline-recommended tool for men with benign prostatic obstruction (BPO). Moreover, UF is a helpful decision-making tool for the management of patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). In the last few years, telemedicine and telehealth have increased exponentially as cost-effective treatment options for both patients and physicians. Telemedicine and telehealth have been well positioned during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent healthcare system overload and to ensure adequate management of patients through screening, diagnosis, and follow-up at home. In the present manuscript, the main characteristics and performance of a novel and low-cost device for home-based UF have been analyzed. The simple weight-transducer method has been applied to perform UF. An inexpensive load cell connected to a 24 bit analogic digital converter (ADC) sends data to a cloud server via SIM card or home Wi-Fi. Data are processed and shown in graphics with both volume and flow rate as a function of time, allowing for measurement of average flow rate, maximum flow rate, voided volume, and voiding time. A numerical algorithm allows for filtering of the dynamic effect due to the urine gravity acceleration and for removing the funnel to simplify the home measurement procedure. Through an online platform, the physician can see and compare each UF data. The device’s reliability has been validated in a first laboratory setting and showed excellent performance. This approach based on domiciliary tests and an online platform can revolutionize the urologic clinic landscape by offering a constant patient cost-effective follow-up, eliminating the time wasted waiting in the office setting....
Background: Management of diabetes through improved glycemic control and risk factor modification can help\nprevent long-term complications. Much diabetes management is self-management, in which healthcare providers\nplay a supporting role. Well-designed e-Health solutions targeting behavior change can improve a range of measures,\nincluding glycemic control, perceived health, and a reduction in hospitalizations.\nMethods: The primary objective of this study is to evaluate if a mobile application designed to improve self-management\namong patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) improves glycemic control compared to usual care. The secondary objectives\nare to determine the effects on patient experience and health system costs; evaluate how and why the intervention\nworked as observed; and gain insight into considerations for system-wide scale-up. This pragmatic,\nrandomized, wait-list-control trial will recruit adult participants from three Diabetes Education Programs in\nOntario, Canada. The primary outcome is glycemic control (measured by HbA1c). Secondary outcomes\ninclude patient-reported outcomes and patient-reported experience measures, health system utilization, and\nintervention usability. The primary outcome will be analyzed using an ANCOVA, with continuous secondary\noutcomes analyzed using Poisson regression. Direct observations will be conducted of the implementation\nand application-specific training sessions provided to each site. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with\nparticipants, healthcare providers, organizational leaders, and system stakeholders as part of the embedded process\nevaluation. Thematic analysis will be applied to the qualitative data in order to describe the relationships between (a)\nkey contextual factors, (b) the mechanisms by which they effect the implementation of the intervention, and (c) the\nimpact on the outcomes of the intervention, according to the principles of Realist Evaluation.\nDiscussion: The use of mobile health and virtual tools is on the rise in health care, but the evidence of their\neffectiveness is mixed and their evaluation is often lacking key contextual data. Results from this study will provide\nmuch needed information about the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a mobile application to improve diabetes\nself-management. The process evaluation will provide valuable insight into the contextual factors that influence the\napplication effectiveness, which will inform the potential for adoption and scale....
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