Telemedicine denotes the delivery and provision of healthcare and consultative services to individual patients and the transmission of information related to care, over distance, using telecommunication technologies. Telemedicine incorporates direct clinical, preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic services and treatment; consultative and follow-up services; remote monitoring of patients; rehabilitative services and patient education.
Health care providers are faced with scientific, social and economic challenges in the delivery of healthcare services. Telemedicine can meet many of these challenges in an organized and cost efficient manner through a better exchange of information, medical expertise and access to quality care. Telemedicine is not a medical speciality but a health care delivery system that is revolutionizing medicine and the delivery of Health care as it is known today.
Telemedicine, utilizing today's significant advances in technology and telecommunication techniques, provides a new method of effectively delivering health care. It is now possible to transmit text, sound, images and video from one location to another. Telemedicine allows its users to reduce the burdens of inferior health care access through utilization of technology.
APPLICATIONS :
- Reaching out to distant locations, which can significantly reduce the time and costs of the patient transportation
- Transmitting images to key medical centers for long distance evaluation by appropriate medical specialists
- Permitting physicians doing clinical research to be linked together despite geographical separation
- Charting patient records and diagnostic images
MRI SCANNERS
The MRI Unit is equipped with the MRI Philips Intera 3T. This superconducting system incorporates the latest technological advancements like Turbo-Spin Echo and ECHO-Planar Imaging. A wide range of RF coils provide high resolution imaging of the entire spine in a single examination.
TELEMEDICINE APPLIED TO MEDICAL PRACTICE RESULTS IN
- Reduction in the need to transfer patients to a site of medical expertise
- Decrease in the relocation of medical specialists to the patient
- Better organized and less costly health care
- More efficient and effective use of medical and technological resources
- Enhanced diagnostic and therapeutic quality of care
- Opens up new possibilities for continuing education or training for isolated or rural health practitioners
VIDEO CONFERENCING AND CLINICAL PROGRAMMES
Videoconferencing in Telemedicine has proven to be a fantastic tool for educational purposes, apart from its primary role of carrying out online tele-consultations.
These clinical meetings range from the discussing of case studies to the relaying of Surgical Workshops conducted at Apollo Hospitals to venues in the other states.
OTHER PROGRAMME INCLUDE :
- Relay of live Angiography and Angioplasty procedures to important conferences and workshops in other cities
- Relay of OT procedures to a gathering of over 1000 doctors
- Relay of vital inauguration programmes and CMEs across all Apollo centres, throughout the country and to other non- Apollo Telemedicine centres
TELEMEDICINE MEDICAL SECOND OPINIONS:
Complex medical cases often need more than one specialist opinion to ensure accurate diagnosis. With the help of cutting-edge technology-aided diagnostics and access to super specialists, the trend of seeking medical second opinions is growing. General practitioners or specialists use Telemedicine to seek opinions from super specialists to confirm diagnoses, plan treatments and provide acute interventional plans in case of medical emergencies.
OFTEN CASES ALSO REQUIRE MULTIPLE INPUTS SUCH AS:
- Tele-Radiology - reporting of radiology images by well known super specialists at the Telemedicine Speciality Centre (TSC)
- Tele-Pathology - view sharing of the biopsy slides
- Tele-Cardiology - where the consulting doctor can perform a live ECHO or a live Angiography and transmit the same to the TSC for a second opinion and to arrive at the final diagnosis
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