Question

• Analyze each of the material of Rural Telemedicine.
• Prepare a brief report, where you make a sketch of proposal for a general architecture of a communications network that allows interconnecting a rural ambulatory in your municipality with a reference hospital in the state capital.

Answer 1

THE KEY PURPOSE OF TELEMEDICINE IS TO LET THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM REACH THE REMOTE AREAS AND MAKE THEM ACCESSIBLE REMOTELY,BOTH.NOW ,IN RURAL AREAS ,ACCESSIBLE CLINICS AND HOSPITALS ARE SCARCE.SO ,THE TIME TO TRAVEL AND THE DISTANCE ARE THE MAJOR ISSUES FACED BY THE PATIENT.

TELEMEDICINE ,A TERM COINED IN THE 1970S,WHICH LITERALLY MEANS "HEALING AT A DISTANCE'

'THE DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE SERVICES ,WHERE DISTANCE IS A CRITICAL FACTOR ,BY ALL HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS USING INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE EXCHANGE OF VALID INFORMATION FOR DIAGNOSIS ,TREATMENT AND PREVENTION OF DISEASE AND INJURIES,RESEARCH AND EVALUATION,AND FOR THE CONTINUING EDUCATION OF HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS,ALL IN THE INTERESTS OF ADVANCING THE HEALTH OF INDIVIDUALS AND THEIR COMMUNITIES'

A TELEMEDICINE SETUP WILL REQUIRE A FEW BASIC NEEDS AND SOME CHOICES. YOU WILL NEED;

1.A SECURE INTERNET CONNECTION(BROAD BAND)

2.A VIDEOPLATFORM

3.TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT.

AND THEN CHOOSE WHEATHER TO RECORD YOUR INTERACTION (RECORDING DEVICE ) AND CHOSE YOUR PERIPHERALS TO ASSIST IN THE VISIT.

COMMUNICATION ARCHITECTURE DEFINES THE FREQUENCY AND FIDELITY OF INFORMATION FLOW BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS IN YOUR ORGANIZATION. IT HELPS STRUCTURE HOW AND WHEN YOU COMMUNICATE,BOTH WITHIN A TEAM AND CROSS-FUNCTIONALLY.

THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR IS UDERGOING A CRITICAL TRASITION FROM A DELIVERY SYSTEM AIMED AT PROVIDING EPISODIC INSTITUTIONAL CARE FOR THE TREATMENT OF ILLNESSES TO AN EMPHASIS ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS THAT SUPPORT COMMUNITY BASED CARE, WITH GREATER CONSUMER INVOLVEMENT IN THE PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT OF ILLNESS ACROSS THE LIFE SPAN.THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY(ICT)INFRASTRUCTURE IS A CRITICAL ELEMENT OF THIS TRANSITION.ICT IS A POWERFUL TOOL WITH MUCH POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE IMPROVEMENTS IN ALL SIX QUALITY AIMS SET FORTH IN THE QUALITY CHASM REPORT -SAFETY ,EFFECTIVENESS,PATIENT -CENTEREDNESS,TIMELINES,EFFICIENCY,AND EQUITY -IN ALL GEOGRAPHIC AREAS.

IN RURAL AMERICA,APPROPRIATE USE OF ICT CAN BRIDGE DISTANCES BY PROVIDING MORE IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO CLINICAL KNOWLEDGE ,SPECIALIZED EXPERTISE,AND SERVICES NOT READILY AVAILABLE IN SPARSELY POPULATED ARES.

OVER THE PAST SEVERAL DECADES ,TWO IMPOTRTANT TRENDS SHAPING HEALTH CARE DELIVERY HAVE ACCENTUATED THE NEED FOR INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY AS A KEY TOOL FOR SUPPORTING SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT.FIRST, THERE HAS BEEN AN EXPONENTIAL INCREASE IN MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE .SIZABLE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INVESTMENTS IN CLINICAL RESEARCH HAVE LED TO A VASTLY EXPANDED CLINICAL KNOWLEDGE BASE AND MANY NEW DRUGS ,MEDICAL DEVICES AND OTHER INTERVENTIONS ,OFFERING MUCH POTENTIAL TO IMPROVE HEALTH AND REDUCE PAIN AND SUFFERING.BUT TRASLATING NEW MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE INTO PRACTICE HAS BEEN DIFFICULT AND SLOW.

SECOND ,THE LIFE EXPECTANCY OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC HAS BEEN INCREASING ( IN PART AS ARESULT OF SUCCESSES OF THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM). APPROPRIATE MANAGEMANT OF CHRONIC CONDITIONS REQUIRES A HIGH DEGREE OF COMMUNICATION AMONG MEMBERS OF THE CARE TEAM AND BETWEEN CLINICIANS AND PATIENTS AND IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO COMPLETE PATIENT RECORDS BY ALL AUTHORIZED USERS.

TELEHEALTH IS A BROAD SET OF APPLICATIONS USING COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES TO SUPPORT LONG -DISTANCE CLINICAL CARE,CONSUMER AND PROFESSIONAL HEALTH RELATED EDUCATION ,PUBLIC HEALTH ,HEALTH ADMINISTRATION AND RESEARCH

ICT APPLICATIONS IN RURAL SETTINGS

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INFRASTRUCTURE OPENS UP MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO IMPROVE HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE IN RURAL AREAS .CHANGES IN HEALTH CARE DELIVERY AT ALL LEVELS WILL RESULT INCLUDING,

=CARE AT HOME AND IN THE COMMUNITY

=CARE PROVIDED IN HEALTH CARE SETTINGS

- AMBULATORY AND CLINIC CARE

- HOSPITAL CARE

=POPULATION HEALTH

APPLICATION IN HEALTH CARE SETTINGS

ICT WILL LIKELY HAVE A VERY SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON PROVIDERS IN HEALTH CARE SETTINGS .FOLLOWING IS A BRIEF DISCUSSION OF APPLIICATIONS IN THE AREAS OF EN-COUNTERS ,REMOTE LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL INTERPRETATION ,KNOWLEDGE AND DECISION SUPPORT ,STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL OF DIAGNOSTIC AND HEALTH INFORMATION .

REMOTE LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL INTERPRETATION  

PROVIDING PROFESSIONAL LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL INTERPRETING SERVICES PRESENTS A SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM FOR RURAL PROVIDERS ,PARTICULARLY IN SMALL CLINICS THAT SERVE PATIENTS FROM DIVERSE ETHNIC AND CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS WHO MAY SPEAK SEVERAL DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN USED TO ADDRESS LANGUAGE BARRIERS THROUGH A NUMBER OF COMMERCIAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES.

KNOWLEDE AND DECISION SUPPORT

IN RECENT YEARS ,SOME PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE IN ENHANCING RURAL PROVIDERS ACCESS TO CLINICAL KNOWLEDGE .

STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL OF DIAGNOSTIC AND HEALTH INFORMATION

STORE- AND FORWARD APPLICATIONS ARE THE METHODS BY WHICH STILL-FRAME IMAGES ,VOICE OR SOUND RECORDING AND MEDICAL DATA SUCH AS PATIENT HISTORY ,PHYSICAL EXAMINATION FINDINGS .

EMERGENCY CARE

DISTANCE APPLICATION HAVE BECOME IMPORTANT TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF EMERGENCY CARE IN RURAL AREAS.SEVERAL MECHANISMS NOW EXIST FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION,INCLUDING CORDLESS,CELLULAR,SATELLITE ,PAGING ,AND PRIVATE MOBILE RADIO SYSTEMS.

THESE TECHNOLOGIES ,ALONG WITH LIVE VIDEO TELECONSULTATIONS,ARE BEING EMPLOYED FOR EARLY-INTERVENTION ,PREHOSPITAL EMERGENCY CARE DURING AMBULANCE SERVICE TRANSPORT.

THE USE OF ICT IS GROWING IN RURAL ARES .WHILE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ICT IS CURRENTLY INCOMPLETE AND UNEVEN ACROSS THE DOMAINS OF THE HEALTH SECTOR IN BOTH URBAN AND RURAL AREAS.

MANY RURAL COMMUNITIES AND PROVIDERS ARE ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN TELEHEALTH.A 1997 SURVEY OF NONFEDARAL RURAL HOSPITALS INDICATED THAT 30% OF RURAL HEALTH CARE ORGANIZATIONS WERE ENGAGED IN SOME FORM OF TELEHEALTH.

SO ICT HELPS THE RURAL AMBULATORY SYSTEM- CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF THESE NETWORKS WOULD MORE FULLY SUPPORT THE RURAL HEALTH CARE DELIVERY SYSTEM.