Design of Health Technologies lecture 3

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Design of Health Technologieslecture 3
John Canny9/07/05
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Background

• Telemedicine has a role to play in most health
  care systems
• In developed countries, for monitoring chronic
  conditions
• Asthma
• Diabetes
• Hypertension
• Heart Problems
• Sleep Apnea (irregular breathing)

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Monitoring

• For these conditions
• Asthma
• Diabetes
• Hypertension
• Heart Problems
• Sleep Apnea (irregular breathing)
• Falls (for elders)
• Others?
• There are simple, off-the-shelf monitoring
  gadgets. Frequency of monitoring varies with the
  condition and the patient, from once a day to
  continuous.

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In Developing Countries

• In the developing world, telemedicine has a
  potentially even larger role to play.
• Hospitals Advanced medical expertise is
  concentrated in a few cities, and telemedicine
  can form a bridge between these and other
  hospitals support exchange of specimens, test
  data, and results.
• The demands for imaging and data exchange require
  very fast connections e.g. satellite networks
  in India, or other broadband.

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In Developing Countries

• Villages
• Since access to hospitals and doctors is often
  extremely difficult, telemedicine can form a
  bridge between these institutions and individuals
  in remote villages.
• Since villagers lack both medical and
  communications infrastructure, a field
  practitioner (e.g. a nurse or barefoot doctor)
  performs the visit in person.
• Data and results make a round-trip to a hospital.
  The communication needs are much less demanding
  a phone is adequate, or email, even with a
  significant latency.

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Using Telemedicine

• Telemedicine can have a key role in patient
  quality-of-life. Patients with chronic conditions
  often feel isolated and disconnected from their
  friends. Psychological well-being (and important
  part of general health) takes a beating.
• The Pebbles system was developed to help
  mitigate childrens sense of isolation, and help
  them stay up to date with school work.
• Other systems have been developed to provide
  virtual environments for children to interact
  with friends and relatives (e.g. Microsofts
  Hutchworld for cancer patients).

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Questions

• Think about friends or relatives with a chronic
  medical condition.
• Would they benefit from telemedical monitoring?
• Can you anticipate any adoption challenges for
  them?
• Think about your own experience with hospitals
• What kind of social experience would have
  improved your sense of isolation?