Current Issue : October - December Volume : 2012 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 5 Articles
Background: Today there is much debate about why telemedicine has stalled. Teleradiology is the only\r\nwidespread telemedicine application. Other telemedicine applications appear to be promising candidates for\r\nwidespread use, but they remain in the early adoption stage. The objective of this debate paper is to achieve a\r\nbetter understanding of the adoption of telemedicine, to assist those trying to move applications from pilot stage\r\nto routine delivery.\r\nDiscussion: We have investigated the reasons why telemedicine has stalled by focusing on two, high-level topics:\r\n1) the process of adoption of telemedicine in comparison with other technologies; and 2) the factors involved in\r\nthe widespread adoption of telemedicine. For each topic, we have formulated hypotheses. First, the advantages for\r\nusers are the crucial determinant of the speed of adoption of technology in healthcare. Second, the adoption of\r\ntelemedicine is similar to that of other health technologies and follows an S-shaped logistic growth curve. Third,\r\nevidence of cost-effectiveness is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the widespread adoption of\r\ntelemedicine. Fourth, personal incentives for the health professionals involved in service provision are needed\r\nbefore the widespread adoption of telemedicine will occur.\r\nSummary: The widespread adoption of telemedicine is a major ââ?¬â?? and still underdeveloped ââ?¬â?? challenge that needs\r\nto be strengthened through new research directions. We have formulated four hypotheses, which are all\r\nsusceptible to experimental verification. In particular, we believe that data about the adoption of telemedicine\r\nshould be collected from applications implemented on a large-scale, to test the assumption that the adoption of\r\ntelemedicine follows an S-shaped growth curve. This will lead to a better understanding of the process, which will\r\nin turn accelerate the adoption of new telemedicine applications in future. Research is also required to identify\r\nsuitable financial and professional incentives for potential telemedicine users and understand their importance for\r\nwidespread adoption....
Following the implementation of electronic nursing records in a psychogeriatric ward, we examined nursing staff�s attitudes and\r\nperceptions to the implementation of an electronic handover routine. A web-based anonymous and secure questionnaire was\r\ndistributed by e-mail to all nursing staff at a psychogeriatric ward at a university hospital. Most respondents were satisfied with\r\nthe electronic handover, and they believed they managed to keep informed by the new routine. The simultaneous introduction of\r\na morning meeting, to ensure a forum for oral professional discussion, was a success. A minority of staff did not fully trust the\r\ninformation conveyed in the electronic handover, and a significant proportion expressed a need for guidance in using the system.\r\nStaff that had a high level of trust in written reports believed these saved time, had little trouble finding time and a place to read\r\nthe reports, and were more positive to the new handover routine....
Telehealth is the exchange of health information and the provision of health care services through electronic information and\r\ncommunications technology, where participants are separated by geographic, time, social and cultural barriers. The shift of\r\ntelemedicine from desktop platforms to wireless and mobile technologies is likely to have a significant impact on healthcare in\r\nthe future. It is therefore crucial to develop a general information exchange e-medical system to enables its users to perform\r\nonline and offline medical consultations through diagnosis. During the medical diagnosis, image analysis techniques combined\r\nwith doctor�s opinions could be useful for final medical decisions. Quantitative analysis of digital images requires detection and\r\nsegmentation of the borders of the object of interest. In medical images, segmentation has traditionally been done by human\r\nexperts. Even with the aid of image processing software (computer-assisted segmentation tools), manual segmentation of 2D and\r\n3D CT images is tedious, time-consuming, and thus impractical, especially in cases where a large number of objects must be\r\nspecified. Substantial computational and storage requirements become especially acute when object orientation and scale have to\r\nbe considered. Therefore automated or semi-automated segmentation techniques are essential if these software applications are\r\never to gain widespread clinical use. The main purpose of this work is to analyze segmentation techniques for the definition of\r\nanatomical structures under telemedical systems....
Telemedicine is a rapidly developing application of clinical medicine where medical information is transferred through interactive\r\naudiovisual media for the purpose of consulting remote medical procedures or examinations, reducing the time of consultation\r\nfor patients. Teledermatology as an application of telemedicine was developed in 1995: it turns out to be a gradually more ordinary\r\nmean of delivering dermatologic healthcare worldwide and will almost certainly have a greater medical function in the future. In\r\nparticular, teledermatology can aid in the prevention and diagnosis of nonmelanoma and melanoma skin cancer; telemedicine\r\nand teledermatology offer the opportunity to make available consultations with experts also by long distance. Overall, patients\r\nseem to accept teledermatology, considering it as an excellent mean to obtain healthcare, particularly in those areas with no\r\nexpert dermatologists available. Clinicians have also generally reported affirmative experiences with teledermatology in the skin\r\ncancer field. Further studies focusing on cost effectiveness, patient outcomes, and patient and clinician satisfaction will facilitate to\r\ndelineate the potential of teledermatology as a mean of prevention and diagnosis of nonmelanoma and melanoma skin cancer....
This paper is a commentary on a project application of telemedicine to alleviate primary health care problems in\r\nLundazi district in the Eastern province of Zambia. The project dubbed ââ?¬Ë?The Virtual Doctor Projectââ?¬â?¢ will use hard\r\nbody vehicles fitted with satellite communication devices and modern medical equipment to deliver primary\r\nhealth care services to some of the neediest areas of the country. The relevance and importance of the project lies\r\nin the fact that these areas are hard-to-reach due to rugged natural terrain and have very limited\r\ntelecommunications infrastructure. The lack of these and other basic services makes it difficult for medical\r\npersonnel to settle in these areas, which leads to an acute shortage of medical personnel. We comment on this\r\nproblem and how it is addressed by ââ?¬Ë?The Virtual Doctor Projectââ?¬â?¢, emphasizing that while the telemedicine concept\r\nis not new in sub-Saharan Africa, the combination of mobility and connectivity to service a number of villages ââ?¬Ë?on\r\nthe goââ?¬â?¢ is an important variation in the shift back to the 1978 Alma Ata principles of the United Nations World\r\nHealth Organization [WHO].\r\nThis overview of the Virtual Doctor Project in Zambia provides insight into both the potential for ICT, and the\r\nproblems and limitations that any ââ?¬Å?real-worldââ?¬Â articulation of this technology must confront...
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