Today is the world of Information Technology (IT). The only digital language that every person speaks and understands is IT. Its presence is felt not only in the banking, trading, stock market and various other sectors but even the likes of shopkeepers and vegetable vendors are in a way getting involved with the IT mania. The medical fraternity thereby, has not been left behind and have kept themselves well abreast with the various happenings in the field of IT. And of the various inventions and happenings in the field of IT, Telemedicine among the others is one such example to site about.

What is Telemedicine?

It is basically a transfer of digital data for the purpose of opinion, treatment and education. Telemedicine was in use ever since the telephone was invented, although NASA has enhanced on the technique and has been pioneers in the concept of telemedicine. In the olden days, the system being followed was making house calls but today, we can make electronic house calls. Our parents in the past might have called the doctor, if anyone was suffering from any sickness. At that point of time the doctor might have just given you a brief remedy as to what has to be done and at the same time might have insisted on personally seeing the patient. But today, in the world of jet-age technology, the same could be achieved over the telephone by conducting a virtual examination. So what are the benefits and who are the beneficiaries of telemedicine. Patients, patient’s relatives, consultants, patient’s boss, relatives boss, infact anybody who is directly or indirectly connected to the case, is in some form or the other benefited. From the patients point of view, he is benefited by the fact that he has access to different facilities of health care. Even a patient living in some remote area can sit down at his own place and take the opinion from his specialty doctor. Thereby he can cut down on his traveling time and distance, can simultaneously receive treatment under the personal care of the physician and can also procure advice from the specialist. From a consultant’s point of view, he could be benefited by the fact that he could be sitting in a conference at some place but he could share the research data and discuss other difficult cases on the subject with his colleague from the other part of the globe. Likewise, he can also examine patients who are traveling overseas using this method. The consultant can thereby be assured help medico legally, delivery of treatment could be made faster, longer stay of patients in hospital could be minimized, OPD visits by patients could be minimized and better follow up care could be provided.  

Applications:

Telemedicine could have its presence felt in all fields of medicine like in radiology, ophthalmology, cardiology and others to mention a few. Not mentioned is telepsychaitry, which has yet to gain acceptance. Traditionally, a patient is examined with him positioned at the same place as the doctor and at the same time. But with telemedicine there are two modalities i.e. store and forward and real time. A Real Time consultation is the one that is happening at the same time but the consultant and the patients are at two different locations. Whereas Store and Forward consultation is one, where both the patient and the consultant are at different locations but the data could be accessed at different times and accordingly different opinions could be sought. Apart from the above, the most wide-used application of telemedicine is in tele-radiology. As everyone is aware emission forms the basics and plays a very important role for treatment and diagnosis. Tele-radiology means transmitting high-resolution electronic images from one location to another, thereby making it possible for the doctor to access the various images at any point and time. The images which are sent can vary from X-rays, CT Scan, MRI, nuclear scan, real time angio films, Doppler sounds, echo ultrasound, etc. It is similar to store and forward consultation. And as we are aware, with the advent of new technology, the cost of these equipments will definitely become less in the coming few years.

The purpose of home telemedicine is to connect patients directly to their treating work area at home or at office, and in emerging areas such as cardiology, cancer therapy, asthama, diabetic complications and many more. We have heard of consultants and medical students complaining about their problems encountered during traveling, thereby hindering their speed in updating and improving their skills in surgical and other medical techniques. Today, all this and much more could be accessed through distance education programmes right over a telemedicine network. The benefits of telemedicine could also be used in breaking geographical barriers, saving traveling cost, saving valuable business time, improving patient’s healthcare and providing access to various medical resources.  

So where are we now?

Out of few billion transactions carried in the US including medical insurance, 30 per cent of them are done using a PC and within the next two years it is expected to improve to 50-60 per cent.

From the medical point of view, the use of PACS and mini PACS in getting the required information has cut down the hospital administration cost by 30-35 per cent. Today with PACS and mini PACS, all the delays in getting the reports could be avoided. The doctor could go to his room, log on to the computers and put the registration numbers of the patients and thereby have the full case in front of him. Considering the optic cables, with improved connectivity, greater bandwidth and various other factors, many things could be improved and also wireless technology would definitely enhance the standards in the coming future. Today, the new package that is available is WAP (wireless application protocol) and GPRS (general package radio services). Though both these technologies are in their infancy, one can foresee a lot of things happening on these fronts. And this newer technology will soon be a boon to the health care industry. With the help of GPRS and WAP, the patient and doctor could contact each other via the laptop and mobile cellular phones at any time and practically anywhere.  

So where do we go from here?

As technology is improving we can use telemedicine for the benefit of the common man and also as a tool to improve the knowledge based medical factors. When we look at the rural, urban and international telemedicine setup, definitely the consultant charges in the urban area are high but the overall hospitalization charges are very low. In the rural areas, due to lack of facilities and inexperienced doctors, the patient has to stay for a longer time in the hospital than normal thereby, incurring on more expenses. Also, the traveling costs, accommodation cost, all these and more all add up to the overall treatments.

Concluding, telemedicine is an application and not an instrument to see the patients. It is a complex system of technology and human factors, with a potential to bring about profound sociological changes. The ultimate success of this depends on the people who work together.