Current Issue : January - March Volume : 2016 Issue Number : 1 Articles : 9 Articles
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....
Monitoring patients with heart failure by using telemedicine systems is a potential\nmeans for optimizing the management of these patients. The E-care project is developing an\nââ?¬Å?intelligentââ?¬Â communicative platform enabling the home monitoring of patients with New York\nHeart Association (NYHA) Stage III heart failure using non-invasive sensors. As a result, this\nplatform will assist health care professionals by providing an automated processing of these\nsensorsââ?¬â?¢ transmitted data in order to detect and report signs of cardiac decompensation early....
Introduction.Congenital heart diseases (CHD) affect approximately 1%of live births and is an important cause of neonatal morbidity\nand mortality.Despite that, there is a shortage of paediatric cardiologists in Brazil,mainly in the northern and northeastern regions.\nIn this context, the implementation of virtual outpatient clinics with the aid of different telemedicine resources may help in the care\nof children with heart defects. Methods. Patients under 18 years of age treated in virtual outpatient clinics between January 2013 and\nMay 2014 were selected. They were divided into 2 groups: those who had and those who had not undergone a screening process for\nCHD in the neonatal period. Clinical and demographic characteristics were collected for further statistical analysis. Results. A total\nof 653 children and teenagers were treated in the virtual outpatient clinics. From these, 229 had undergone a neonatal screening\nprocess. Fewer abnormalities were observed on the physical examination of the screened patients. Conclusion.The implementation\nof pediatric cardiology virtual outpatient clinics can have a positive impact in the care provided to people in areas with lack of\nskilled professionals....
Background: Telehealth has the potential to improve asthma management through regular monitoring of lung\nfunction and/or asthma symptoms by health professionals in conjunction with feedback to patients. Although the\nbenefits of telehealth for improving asthma management have been extensively studied, the feasibility of telehealth\nfor supporting asthma management in pregnant women has not been investigated. This study aims to evaluate the\nuse of telehealth for remotely monitoring lung function and optimising asthma control during pregnancy.\nMethods: A randomised controlled trial comparing usual care with a telehealth program (MASTERYÃ?©) has been\nconducted. The intervention comprised a mobile application ââ?¬â?? Breathe-easyÃ?© supported by a Bluetooth-enabled\nhandheld device (COPD-6Ã?®), which was used for self-monitoring of lung function (FEV1, FEV6) twice daily, and\nrecording asthma symptoms and medication usage weekly; and a written asthma action plan (WAAP). The primary\noutcome measure is change in asthma control measured using the Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ).\nSecondary outcomes include changes in mini-Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (mAQLQ) score, lung function,\nasthma-related health visits, days off work/study, and oral corticosteroid use. Outcome data were collected at\nbaseline, 3 months and 6 months by a research assistant masked to group allocation. Maternal and neonatal\noutcomes were also collected post-partum.\nDiscussion: This is the first study to evaluate the application of telehealth to optimize asthma management in\npregnant women. If effective, this telehealth program could improve asthma self-management by pregnant women\nwhich may reduce the maternal and fetal risks of poorly controlled asthma during pregnancy....
Background. Telemedicine can be defined as the use of electronic media for transmission of information and medical data fromone\nsite to another. The objective of this study is to demonstrate an experience of telemedicine in plastic surgery. Methods. 32 plastic\nsurgeons received a link with password for real-time streaming of a surgery. At the end of the procedure, the surgeons attending the\nprocedure by the Internet answered five questions.The results were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Results. 27 plastic surgeons\nattended the online procedure in real-time. 96.3% considered the access to the website as good or excellent and 3.7% considered\nit bad. 14.8% reported that the transmission was bad and 85.2% considered the quality of transmission as good or excellent. 96.3%\nclassified the live broadcasting as a good or excellent learning experience and 3.7% considered it a bad experience. 92.6% reported\nfeeling able to perform this surgery after watching the demo and 7.4% did not feel able. 100% of participants said they would like\nto participate in other surgical demonstrations over the Internet. Conclusion.We conclude that the use of telemedicine can provide\nmore access to education and medical research, for plastic surgeons looking for medical education from distant regions....
Communication links are the lifelines for telemedicine practice. Various terrestrial and satellite media can be used, however,\neach has its own plus and minus side. Current study was designed to evaluate two types of telecommunication media used for\ntelemedicine video conference at a Telemedicine program over a period of fifteen months. The evaluation was based on analysis of\ntechnical parameters recorded in a prescribed perform Designed for the study purpose maintained prospectively after completion of each\nevent. Only technical issues were focused. At the end of the study period analysis of data revealed that leased Line based terrestrial IP\n(Internet Protocol) is better than Sky IP....
Globally, new cancer cases will rise by 57% within the next two\ndecades, with the majority in the low- and middle-income countries\n(LMICs). Consequently, a steep increase of about 40% in cancer\ndeaths is expected there, mainly because of lack of treatment facilities,\nespecially radiotherapy. Radiotherapy is required for more than 50%\nof patients, but the capital cost for equipment often deters establishment\nof such facilities in LMICs. Presently, of the 139 LMICs, 55 do\nnot even have a radiotherapy facility, whereas the remaining 84 have\na deficit of 61.4% of their required radiotherapy units. Networking\nbetween centers could enhance the effectiveness and reach of existing\nradiotherapy in LMICs. A teleradiotherapy network could enable\ncenters to share and optimally utilize their resources, both infrastructure\nand staffing. This could be in the form of a three-tier radiotherapy\nservice consisting of primary, secondary, and tertiary\nradiotherapy centers interlinked through a network. The concept has\nbeen adopted in some LMICs and could also be used as a ââ?¬Ë?ââ?¬Ë?service\nprovider model,ââ?¬â?¢Ã¢â?¬â?¢ thereby reducing the investments to set up such a\nnetwork. Teleradiotherapy networks could be a part of the multi pronged\napproach to address the enormous gap in radiotherapy services\nin a cost-effective manner and to support better accessibility to\nradiotherapy facilities, especially for LMICs....
Objectives: To understand the application condition of telemedicine and discuss its future\ndevelopment strategy.\nMethods: A systematic search was undertaken for current application condition of telemedicine.\nTelemedicine, ehealth and telehealth were used as searching terms to retrieved follow three\ndatabases from their establishment to the end of June 2013: PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google\nScholar. Studies on patients and consumers, health professionals and family caregivers were\ninvolved. Studies such as overview, expert advice, lectures, announcements, conference\npresentations, project introductions were excluded.\nResults: 140 studies met the inclusion criteria which included 86 systematic reviews, 44 literature\nreviews, 1 evidence-based analysis, 1 original research, 2 evaluation and appraisal system reviews\nand 6 other types of studies. 18 studies are about mental health, 14 are endocrine gland, 13 are\nradiology, 12 are burns treatment, 8 are chronic disease and so on. Telemedicine application types\ncan be divided into the following four types: telemonitor, teleconsultation, tele reference,\nteletherapy.\nConclusion: Telemedicine has obtained great progress development, which could be developed\nbetter if following suggestions: more evidence on cost effectiveness of telemedicine in the level\nof policy are needed, a compromising attitudes to the telemedicine is needed in its initial stage,\nand telemedicine should be encouraged to be applied in disease prevention and health\nconsultation....
The Iraqi healthcare services are struggling to regain their lost momentum. Many physicians and nurses left Iraq because of the\ncurrent situation in the country.Despite plans of calling back the skilled healthworkforce, they are stillworried by the disadvantages\nof their return. Hence, technology plays a central role in taking advantage of their profession through the use of telemedicine.\nStudying the factors that affect the implementation of telemedicine is necessary. Telemedicine covers network services, policy\nmakers, and patient understanding. A framework that includes the influencing factors in adopting telemedicine in Iraq was\ndeveloped in this study. A questionnaire was distributed among physicians in Baghdad Medical City to examine the hypothesis on\neach factor. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was utilized to verify the reliability of the questionnaire and Cronbach�s\nalpha test shows that the factors have values more than 0.7, which are standard....
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