Journal of telemedicine and telecare
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We have evaluated a course delivered by videoconferencing to rural health centre staff in Hokkaido. The course focused on the planning and evaluation of community health interventions. It included four 90 min sessions and two follow-up sessions. ⋯ Knowledge of community health-care planning and evaluation was higher at post-education testing than pre-education testing. Ratings for 'using a computer', 'using some computer software', 'using the Internet' and 'interest in telehealth' increased significantly in post-education testing compared with pre-education testing. The course had an additional benefit in increasing the collaboration between community health workers and university staff.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
A randomized controlled trial to assess the clinical effectiveness of both realtime and store-and-forward teledermatology compared with conventional care.
The clinical effectiveness of realtime teledermatology, store-and-forward teledermatology and conventional outpatient dermatological care were evaluated in a randomized control trial. A total of 204 patients took part--102 patients were randomized to the realtime teledermatology consultation, 96 of whose cases were also referred using a store-and-forward technique, and 102 to the conventional outpatient consultation. There were no differences in the reported clinical outcomes of realtime teledermatology and conventional dermatology. ⋯ In contrast, the dermatologist requested a subsequent hospital appointment for 69% of those seen by store-and-forward teledermatology. An analysis of costs showed that realtime teledermatology was clinically feasible but more expensive than conventional care, while the store-and-forward teledermatology consultation was less expensive but its clinical usefulness was limited. Sensitivity analysis indicated that realtime teledermatology was as economical as conventional care when less artificial assumptions were made about equipment utilization, costs and travel distances to hospital.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The feasibility of telemedicine for orthopaedic outpatient clinics--a randomized controlled trial.
We investigated the use of videoconferencing in the examination of orthopaedic outpatients. A consecutive sample of orthopaedic outpatients was randomized to examination either via videoconferencing (n = 76) while attending a primary-care unit or at a conventional hospital outpatient clinic 160 km away (n = 69). Videoconferencing was found to be feasible and the equipment functioned well technically. ⋯ The two patient groups were equally satisfied with the specialist service. The telemedicine patients were more willing to have their next visit by videoconferencing than the conventional patients. Videoconferencing between primary and secondary care can be used in the examination of orthopaedic patients whenever no demanding imaging technology is needed.
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Telemedicine in Armenia began with the US Telemedicine Space Bridge programme, which was introduced following the disastrous earthquake in 1988. More recently educational programmes have been established between the School of Medicine at Boston University and the Emergency Hospital in Yerevan. ⋯ The future integration of telemedicine and telehealth services within the health services in Armenia will produce significant benefits. Current telemedicine activities in Armenia represent models for collaborative projects in other former Soviet republics with the aim of providing greater access to health-care at higher quality and lower cost.
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We examined the effect of distance learning on nurses' clinical skills in a rural Japanese hospital. The subject matter was respiratory rehabilitation. After one face-to-face session, who 30 min sessions were delivered by videoconferencing to staff nurses working in a 100-bed rural hospital 250 miles (400 km) from Sapporo Medical University. ⋯ This implies that there was increased use of new skills after the second session, although the difference was not significant. The nurses' opinions about the effectiveness for patients increased from 8% to 27% after the second session, which was significant. The pilot project indicated the usefulness of distance learning for upgrading nurses' clinical practice in one rural Japanese hospital and suggested ways in which videoconferencing can be used in future.