Remote-control health

With search engine companies establishing online personal health records for their users and surgeons on the brink of making robotic surgery routine, it makes sense to have a remote medical care system that can support nursing staff, care managers and other healthcare workers. Writing in the International Journal of Web and Grid Services from Inderscience Publishers, a Japanese team describes a proposal for such a system.

Akio Koyama of Yamagata University, Japan, and colleagues there and at Yamagata College of Industry and Technology, and Fukuoka Institute of Technology, have drafted a proposal for a remote healthcare system with three main functions. The first function acts as a multipoint communication system with video images and voice. The second automatically uploads vital signs data and referencing. The third function involves remote monitoring of drip infusions that provide the patient with a controlled supply of medication or nutrients. The team has already carried out successful field trials with their prototype remote medical care support centre.

The researchers point out that their system could address some of important socioeconomic problems, such as providing quality medical care for all citizens, even those living in small towns and rural areas.

Currently, access to sophisticated healthcare is often restricted to those in major conurbations and people in sparsely populated areas are usually required to seek healthcare some distance from their homes. "These trips can require hours of travel time for a relatively short examination, and thus are neither convenient nor an efficient use of the patient's time," says the team. Conversely, having healthcare workers with specialist knowledge travel to remote areas is equally wasteful of resources at various levels. The optimum solution, the team says, is to provide a medical consultancy solution using information and communications technology.

Their remote system brings together technologies that allow video conferencing between patient or local carer and healthcare workers, which also allows medical care data to be uploaded to a database. The vital signs data uploading and referencing subsystem likewise would operate via the internet or via cellular phone and allow a remote doctor to advise local carers on patient requirements. Finally, a subsystem that monitors the progress of a drip infusion using a sensor network would notify remote nursing staff of further requirements, which could then be passed on to a local carer.

There are several technical aspects of the proposed system that require attention prior to such a remote medical care approach being widely adopted, the researchers add. For instance, delays and throughput of video transfer during communications must be improved as well as diagnosis accuracy of the doctor agent and the prediction accuracy of the drip infusion finishing time.

Source: Inderscience Publishers

Related stories:

Health-care system leaves patients, medicos in the waiting room
The Australian accreditation and registration system for international medical graduates is critically ill and the country needs to create a better system to support overseas health professionals or it will continue to face doctor shortages, according to an academic from The Australian National University.
Telemedicine leads to better stroke treatment decisions
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center say that their first-of-its-kind study of a telemedicine program which transports stroke specialists via computer desktop or even laptop to the patient’s bedside, using highly sophisticated video, audio and Internet technology, could have an immediate and profound impact on the treatment of stroke patients throughout the world.
Menopausal women need better health care and community support in rural areas
Good social support and reliable information are essential for women who find menopause an intense and life-altering experience, especially if they live in rural areas where health services are patchy or inaccessible. That’s the key finding from research published in the latest issue of the Journal of Advanced Nursing.
Networking: Securing illegals' records
Migrant farm workers flow into Salinas, Calif., during the lettuce-harvesting season, just as once portrayed, long ago, by novelist John Steinbeck. The difference is that now, the workers come to California's Central Valley from central Mexico, not the Oklahoma dust bowl, as in "The Grapes of Wrath."
Unique Undersea Lab Prep for Future Exploration
NASA is sending three astronauts and a Cincinnati doctor to test new space medicine concepts and extravehicular techniques in a unique underwater laboratory off the Florida coast.
Home IQ: Winning technologies will make people smarter -- not their houses
Someday, we may be getting fashion advice from our mirrors. Instead of digging through our closets to find the perfect complement for a new shirt, we may hold it up to our bedroom mirror for a computer to scan. Using radio-frequency identification technology, our electronic fashion stylist will then offer suggestions based on what's in our closet or how the latest edition of Vogue or Teen Beat pairs up something similar.
Study: 12 percent of Indian deaths due to alcohol
(AP) -- Almost 12 percent of the deaths among American Indians and Alaska Natives are alcohol-related - more than three times the percentage in the general population, a new federal report says.
Asthma monitoring on the Web
An inexpensive web-enabled device for measuring lung function in patients with asthma and other disorders is being developed by researchers at Texas Instruments, in Bangalore, India, and co-workers. Writing in the International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, the team explains how the devise could allow physicians to monitor their patients remotely and quickly instigate medical attention in an emergency.

News discussion:

Medicine & Health news