Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association
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Rapid growth of three-dimensional (3D) printing in recent years has led to new applications of this technology across all medical fields. This review article presents a broad range of examples on how 3D printing is facilitating liver surgery, including models for preoperative planning, education, and simulation. ⋯ Although the technology is still in its early stages, presented models are considered useful in preoperative planning and patient and student education. There are multiple factors limiting the use of 3D printing in everyday healthcare, the most important being high costs and the time-consuming process of development. Promising early results need to be verified in larger randomized trials, which will provide more statistically significant results.
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Telemedicine care models for managing advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may benefit from the addition of motion sensing, spirometry, and tablet-based symptom diary tracking. ⋯ Further exploration will be needed to determine the value of this information in preventing outcomes relevant to patients.
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Observational Study
Diagnosis and Management of Malignant Melanoma in Store-and-Forward Teledermatology.
Published studies have led to concern that store-and-forward teledermatology (SFT) diagnosis and management of melanomas may be inferior to face-to-face (FTF) dermatology care. ⋯ Diagnosis and management of melanoma in SFT is comparable to FTF care.
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The significant gap between children and adolescents presenting for emergency mental healthcare and the shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists constitutes a major barrier to timely access for psychiatric assessment for rural and remote areas. Unlike remote areas, urban emergency departments have in-house psychiatric consultation. Telepsychiatry may be a solution to ensure the same service for remote areas. However, there is a paucity of studies on the use of telepsychiatry for child and adolescent emergency consults. Thus, the aim of our study was to (1) assess patient satisfaction with telepsychiatry and (2) compare clinical characteristics and outcome of telepsychiatry with face-to-face emergency child and adolescent assessments. ⋯ Telepsychiatry is acceptable to patients and families for safe emergency assessment and follow-up, reducing unnecessary travel to urban centers. Longer time outcomes are needed to establish validity of telepsychiatry for emergency assessments.
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Effects of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) telemedicine on patient and staff outcomes are mixed. Variation in utilization is potentially driving these differences. ⋯ ICU telemedicine needs to develop an agreed upon typology for documenting ICU telemedicine utilization and incorporate these measures into models of its effect on clinical outcomes.