Few places on earth are as Tristan da cunha.This small huddle of volcanic islands,with a population of just 269,sits in the middle of the South Atlantic, 1,750 miles from South Africa and 2088 miles from South America,making it the most remote settlement in the world.So it is a bad place to fall ill with an unusual disease , because the islands do not have an airstrip to evacuate a patient for emergency medical treatment.
Nevertheless , the islanders have access to some of the most advanced medical facilities in the world , thanks to project tristan an elaborate experiment in telemedicine.This field ,which combines telecommunications and medicine ,is changing as technology improves.
A satellite-internet connection to a 24-hour emergency medical centre in America enables the local doctor to send digitised X-rays,electrocardiograms(ECGs) and lung function tests to experts and specialists over a video link when he needs to.The system even enables cardiologists to test and reprogram pacemakers or implanted defibrillators from the other side of the globe .In short ,when patient in Tristan da Cunha enters the local doctors surgery ,he may as well be stepping into the University of Pittsburgh medical centre.
Most of the technology this requires is readily available, and it is surprisingly simple to set up .In theory ,this sort of long distance telemedicine could go much further .In 2001 a surgeon in New York performed a gall-bladder removal on a patient in Paris using a robotic surgery system called Da Vinci.Although that was technologically mpressive ,it may not be where the field is heading.
For advances in telemedicine are less to do with the medicine.In the long term ,it may be less about providing long – distance care to people who are unwell,and more about monitoring people using wearable or implanted sensors in an effort to spot diseases at an early stage .The emphasis will shift from acute to chronic conditions ,and from treatment to prevention .Today’s stress on making medical treatment available to people in remote settings isjust one way telemedicine can be used and it is merely the tip of a very large ice berg that is floating closer and closer to home.
to read more - http://www.iambiomed.com/telemedicine/
Nevertheless , the islanders have access to some of the most advanced medical facilities in the world , thanks to project tristan an elaborate experiment in telemedicine.This field ,which combines telecommunications and medicine ,is changing as technology improves.
A satellite-internet connection to a 24-hour emergency medical centre in America enables the local doctor to send digitised X-rays,electrocardiograms(ECGs) and lung function tests to experts and specialists over a video link when he needs to.The system even enables cardiologists to test and reprogram pacemakers or implanted defibrillators from the other side of the globe .In short ,when patient in Tristan da Cunha enters the local doctors surgery ,he may as well be stepping into the University of Pittsburgh medical centre.
Most of the technology this requires is readily available, and it is surprisingly simple to set up .In theory ,this sort of long distance telemedicine could go much further .In 2001 a surgeon in New York performed a gall-bladder removal on a patient in Paris using a robotic surgery system called Da Vinci.Although that was technologically mpressive ,it may not be where the field is heading.
For advances in telemedicine are less to do with the medicine.In the long term ,it may be less about providing long – distance care to people who are unwell,and more about monitoring people using wearable or implanted sensors in an effort to spot diseases at an early stage .The emphasis will shift from acute to chronic conditions ,and from treatment to prevention .Today’s stress on making medical treatment available to people in remote settings isjust one way telemedicine can be used and it is merely the tip of a very large ice berg that is floating closer and closer to home.
to read more - http://www.iambiomed.com/telemedicine/
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