Design and Technical Validation of a Telemedicine Service for Rural Healthcare in Ecuador

Telemedicine for healthcare: Capabilities, features, barriers, and applications

Regular hospital visits can be expensive, particularly in rural areas, due to travel costs. In the era of the Covid-19 Pandemic, where physical interaction becomes risky, people prefer telemedicine. Fortunately, medical visits can be reduced when telemedicine services are used through video conferencing or other virtual technologies. Thus, telemedicine saves both the patient's and the health care provider time and the cost of the treatment. Furthermore, due to its fast and advantageous characteristics, it can streamline the workflow of hospitals and clinics. This disruptive technology would make it easier to monitor discharged patients and manage their recovery. As a result, it is sufficient to state that telemedicine can create a win-win situation. This paper aims to explore the significant capabilities, features with treatment workflow, and barriers to the adoption of telemedicine in Healthcare. The paper identifies seventeen significant applications of telemedicine in Healthcare. Telemedicine is described as a medical practitioner to diagnose and treat patients in a remote area. Using health apps for scheduled follow-up visits makes doctors and patients more effective and improves the probability of follow-up, reducing missing appointments and optimising patient outcomes. Patients should have an accurate medical history and show the doctor any prominent rashes, bruises, or other signs that need attention through the excellent quality audio-video system. Further, practitioners need file management and a payment gateway system. Telemedicine technologies allow patients and doctors both to review the treatment process. However, this technology supplements physical consultation and is in no way a substitute for a physical consultation. Today this technology is a safe choice for patients who cannot go to the doctor or sit at home, especially during a pandemic.

Transition to telehealth : Engaging medical students in telemedicine healthcare delivery

In recent years, telemedicine has been increasingly incorporated into medical practice, a process which has now been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. As telemedicine continues to progress, it is necessary for medical institutions to incorporate telemedicine into their curricula, and to provide students with the necessary skills and experience to effectively carry out telemedicine consultations. The purposes of this study are to review the involvement of medical students with telemedicine and to determine both the benefits and the challenges experienced. A literature review on the MEDLINE; CINAHL Plus; APA PsychInfo; Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts; and Health Business Elite databases was performed on September 7, 2020, yielding 561 results. 33 manuscripts were analysed, with the main benefits and challenges experienced by medical students summarized. In addition to increasing their understanding of the importance of telemedicine and the acquisition of telemedicine-specific skills, students may use telemedicine to act as a valuable workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. Challenges that students face, such as discomfort with carrying out telemedicine consults and building rapport with patients, may be addressed through the incorporation of telemedicine teaching into the medical curricula through experiential learning. However, other more systemic challenges, such as technical difficulties and cost, need to be examined for the full benefits of telemedicine to be realized. Telemedicine is here to stay and has proven its worth during the COVID-19 pandemic, with medical students embracing its potential in assisting in medical clinics, simulation of clinical placements, and online classrooms.

Health-tech startups in healthcare service delivery: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

An efficient and affordable healthcare service delivery to everyone is a prerogative of the national governments. Such delivery is quite exacting, and gaps remain. In this regard, startups are trying to disrupt the market with innovative solutions and reach the underserved market. Though anecdotal evidence remains, a rigorous literature review is missing. This paper attempts to understand the status of health-tech startups in healthcare service delivery.

METHODS

We scanned a total of 110 journals - Financial Times top 50, top ten information systems journals listed by the Australian Business Dean Council, and the top 50 Scopus indexed journals in health informatics and health information management. We followed a systematic process for this scoping review - reading of titles, abstracts, and then full papers for final analysis based on inclusion and exclusion criteria.

RESULTS

A total of 76 articles met the inclusion criteria. Only five studies portrayed the status of health-tech startups in healthcare service delivery. To capture the overall startup ecosystem, we continued with a scoping review of all the 76 articles.

DISCUSSIONS

The identified five themes are Technology adoption, Electronic health services, Business planning and framework, Psychographics, and Regulations. There is evidence of technology adoption in service delivery and its nature in the businesses undertaken by startups. Very few studies represented the patterns of the existing business model. The acceptance of the services is dependent on service effectiveness and affordability. The challenges are licensing, policies, data privacy and security, and inadequate technology access among healthcare seekers.

CONCLUSIONS

Albeit the feasibility potential, research concerning the impact of health tech startups in healthcare service delivery is emerging but incipient. The review indicates that research on startups is inadequate, especially related to entrepreneurship, business frameworks, and regulations. Future research should explore the same.

Design and Application of a Telemedicine System Jointly Driven by Videoconferencing and Data Exchange: Practical Experience from Henan Province, China

Background and Objectives: There are a few problems restraining the effective operation of telemedicine in China. On the basis of practices of the Henan Province Telemedicine Center of China (HTCC), the purpose of this study was to design a telemedicine system jointly driven by videoconferencing and data exchange to address the issues limiting the further development and implementation of telemedicine. Methods: Based on service-oriented architecture, the organizational design of the telemedicine system was gradually refined from top to bottom to complete its hierarchical layout. Technologies including multiprotocol stack adaptation, self-adaptive multilink network transmission, information exchange of heterogeneous medical systems, and open application system architecture were also used to construct the system. Results: The telemedicine system realizes the integration of videoconferencing, data acquisition and exchange of heterogeneous medical information systems, and the actual applications and expansion of telemedicine services. The HTCC currently covers more than 500 telemedicine centers, workstations, and service points, forming a five-level "province-city-county-township-village" telemedicine network linkage. The HTCC handles nearly 30,000 teleconsultation cases per year, helping patients save about ¥120 million Chinese Yuan RMB (approximately US $17.5 million). Conclusions: The proposed telemedicine system achieves satisfactory operation effects, along with social and economic benefits. It has the potential to increase the coverage of medical resources in remote regions, and it can play a role in solving other problems facing telemedicine development in China. The findings also inform measures for further improvement in telemedicine's implementation effects, service quality, and application scope in China and globally.