Telemedicine is a field of medicine that actually emerged even before the advent of personal computers and the era of their widespread use. It was then that voices were raised regarding the extent to which the telephone could be used for contact and knowledge exchange between doctors, and later also for contact between doctors and patients. It was the telephone, as a telecommunications device, that became the benchmark and foundation for the development of telemedicine. This field, in its modern sense, began to develop along with the rapid growth of computer networks, including the most important one – the Internet. In medical circles, between hospitals and medical facilities, virtual computer networks began to be created, which were intended to contribute to faster information exchange and the associated experience of doctors, and also allowed for the creation of large patient databases to which access is unlimited. Just as in business environments, teamwork via the network and networked organizations began to gain importance among doctors. If the right conditions are created, telemedicine can develop very rapidly based on the latest multimedia technologies such as videoconferencing or internet systems. Transmitting images over the network, i.e., video communication, allows for interactive communication between specialists, and most importantly, between doctor and patient. The most important scope of telemedicine services includes, among others, the remote transmission of static and dynamic images, X-rays, echograms, ECG, ultrasound, MRI images, and computed tomography scans. Thanks to teletransmission systems, it also becomes possible to conduct remote patient-doctor consultations, perform general examinations, remote visits,
periodic check-ups, monitoring the progress of long-term treatment for patients who do not need to stay in the hospital, observation, remote assistance during difficult surgical procedures, and consulting in post-accident medicine as well as mountain and sea rescue. The most important aspect of telemedicine systems is mainly that geographical barriers are broken down, as the remote presence of a doctor is very often enough to make a quick and accurate diagnosis, which in many cases can even help save human life. Video communication systems also enable access to medical information banks and the transmission of high-resolution images stored in the databases of various hospitals, making patient treatment easier and faster, as the correct diagnosis can be made in a short time. It is also very important that communication takes place in real time, so the presence of a doctor on the other side of the world is felt as if they were standing right next to us. Telemedicine and videoconferencing systems such as Maia, Voyager, VegaStar Silver, and Vega StarGold are offered on our market by the company TELEMED, which, as an ardent popularizer of these solutions, also organizes, together with leading medical facilities, video transmissions of open-heart surgeries and interactive videoconferences in which hospitals in Poland and around the world participate.
From simple telemedicine services…
In today’s world, with the ever-increasing pace of life, cardiovascular diseases currently pose the most serious threat to the lives of modern societies and are the cause of nearly 70 percent of all deaths of our country’s residents, and the most dangerous of them, fatal in half of the cases, is a heart attack. The greatest effectiveness in treating a heart attack is provided by medical intervention and care within the first hour, known as the “golden hour”. An excellent means of solving time difficulties is the telecardiology method. It consists of transmitting an ECG recording to a Diagnostic Center during acquisition (performing the ECG), or storing the performed recording and then transmitting it at a later time than the registration was made. The ECG image is invisible to the person performing the recording and transmission. It is therefore impossible to even attempt to interpret it. Only the personnel of the Diagnostic Center authorized to receive the ECG image have the ability to interpret it.
The article comes from the magazine “e-Fakty” 6/2005.