Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association
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The purpose of this study was to determine telehealth professionals' current experience with technology, expectations of future technical improvements, and how the technology might impact the delivery of care, including communication with patients and patient safety. We developed a semi-structured interview protocol with eight open-ended questions. A sample of telehealth professionals of the Missouri Telehealth Network (MTN) was selected to represent all major clinical specialties. ⋯ Thirty-two percent of the respondents did not know whether practicing telemedicine over the telehealth network would increase the risk of security and privacy violations. The study findings suggest that telehealth professionals need to be educated about the security features of a telehealth network. In addition, continuous quality improvement, including internal and external benchmarking, is applicable to telemedicine settings and can both improve the quality of teleconsultations and minimize errors.
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As the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has evolved its doctrine from that of strictly national medical support during operations to that of multinational medical support, the importance of, and the need for, telemedicine standardization has become apparent. This article describes the efforts made by NATO in recent years to begin the process of telemedicine (TMED) standardization within the Alliance.
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This study evaluated the accuracy, access time, cost, and acceptance by patients and physicians of asynchronous teledermatology referrals in an urban primary care practice. Primary care physicians in a multi-specialty group referred patients for a teledermatology consult. Same-day history and digital images taken by a nurse were electronically sent to a dermatologist who rendered a diagnosis to the physician. ⋯ Asynchronous teledermatology may serve as a valuable tool for triage of dermatology referrals and possibly for delivering care to more patients than in urban areas. It can decrease waiting time for a dermatology diagnosis. In an urban multi-specialty clinic-based primary care practice, results suggest the cost of a teledermatology consult is less than that of an in-person service.
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Comparative Study
A comparison of in-person examination and video otoscope imaging for tympanostomy tube follow-up.
The objective of this study was to determine if video otoscope still images (640 x 480 pixel resolution) of the tympanic membrane following surgical placement of tympanostomy tubes are comparable to an in-person microscopic examination. Forty patients having undergone tympanostomy tube placement in both ears were independently examined in-person by two otolaryngologists and imaged using a video otoscope and telemedicine software package. The two physicians later reviewed images at 6 and 12 weeks. ⋯ The interprovider diagnostic concordance when two physicians independently reviewed all images was 84% (K 0.74), and 89% (K 0.80) when poor images were excluded. This study demonstrates that physician review of video otoscope images is comparable to an in-person microscopic examination. Store-and-forward video otoscopy may be an acceptable method of following patients post-tympanostomy tube placement.
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Patients injured in rural areas die at roughly twice the rate of those patients with similar injuries in urban areas. A multitude of explanations have been suggested for higher mortality rates from trauma in the rural areas of the United States. Since rural emergency room (ER) staff see far fewer traumas than ER staff at large metropolitan trauma centers, their lack of exposure to this low-volume problem certainly contributes to the problem. ⋯ Though many clinical recommendations were made, the system was judged to be life saving in three instances, and both rural and trauma center providers felt the system enhanced clinical care. In addition, educational sessions for rural first responders were well attended and favorably reviewed. Early results of a telemedicine system provide encouragement as a means to address discrepancies in the outcomes after major trauma in rural areas, although more work needs to be completed and evaluated.