Let’s start with the basic definition first. „Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technologies in order to provide clinical health care at a distance. It helps eliminate distance barriers and can improve access to medical services that would often not be consistently available in distant rural communities. It is also used to save lives in critical care and emergency situations.” (Source: Wikipedia)
Over the years, telemedicine has transformed into a major tool to provide healthcare in areas where people have little or no access to healthcare, and these tools help provide clinical care from a distance.
Video Connection Tools
Video-calling applications like WebEx and Skype are great tools to connect caregivers in populated communities to rural patients. Instead of waiting for days or weeks for a health professional to travel to an area, or patients having to take time off traveling to big cities, care can be given almost immediately with less inconvenience, and in many underdeveloped parts of Brazil, this is quite prevalent.
Mobile Imaging Centers
In rural communities where it’s not easy to have their own diagnosticians, mobile imaging centers and lab specimen kiosks can take X-rays and perform collections, while also sending the data electronically to large populated centers where they can be read and analyzed. In reality, across the board, doctors are able to treat more patients in sheer numbers. California based non-profit healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente now has its physicians handle 800 cases per month, 50 percent more than if they relied on face-to-face visits, by simply providing access to patients in remote areas. [SOURCE]
Remote Monitoring
Video connection tools, although great for basic and instant care, are not perfect for elder care, long-term care, and other types of clinical requirements. To solve this issue, a new class of devices is available, which put hospital-quality patient monitoring devices into patients’ homes. The devices then “beam” data to monitoring centers, which screen patients in different geographical areas. The physicians, wherever they may be, have immediate access to their actual vitals and clinical status.
Community-Building Tools
Patients helping other patients are a wonderful approach to extending care. Sometimes, what a patient needs isn’t necessarily a health professional, but a curated session with fellow patients going through the same problems. Online, electronic community tools, like PatientsLikeMe.com, can connect geographic communities and allow for easier dialogue without increasing costs, since they don’t require anything more than a mobile phone or computer.
One of the most effective uses of telemedicine on a large scale is taking place in Africa through Virtual Doctors, a non-profit with a “simple telemedicine software, designed with rural Africa in mind, [which] connects remote healthcare workers, called Clinical Officers, with a panel of medical experts who give diagnosis and treatment advice.”
Telemedicine is becoming more affordable and prevalent, and although it may not replace the need for doctors in rural areas, it does play a critical role in routine care, and in providing instant access to health services that aren’t immediately accessible to distant communities. After all, the purpose of technology has always been to bridge gaps and make things more accessible, and telemedicine provides a great example of just that.
