2. Telemedicine Telemedicine has been defined as the use of telecommunications to provide medical information and services. It may be as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over the telephone, or as sophisticated as using satellite technology to broadcast a consultation between providers at facilities in two countries, using videoconferencing equipment or robotic technology.
6. Real time telemedicine Real time telemedicine could be as simple as a telephone call or as complex as robotic surgery. It requires the presence of both parties at the same time and a communications link between them that allows a real-time interaction to take place. Video-conferencing equipment is one of the most common forms of technologies used in synchronous telemedicine.
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35. Telemedicine Infrastructure: Hardware o Telemedicine platform : This will include minimum standards for type of platform to be used, processor/minimum speed, memory requirements, interfaces, and peripherals. o Clinical devices This will include minimum standards for all the clinical devices to be interfaced or integrated with the telemedicine system, including performance specifications for devices measuring diagnostic parameters, imaging devices, compression, and their safety requirements.
36. Telemedicine Infrastructure: Hardware o Video conferencing units o This will include minimum standards for video conferencing system, including data rate, picture resolution, frame rate, type of camera, audio quality etc. o Communication hardware o This will include minimum standards for various hardware used for interfacing the telemedicine system with the communication network, including all types of terrestrial and satellite based networks.
37. Telemedicine Infrastructure: Software o An operating system o Licensed telemedicine S/W with appropriate User Interface(UI) o Back-end Data Base with the mandatory tables/ fields (if applicable)
38. Telemedicine Infrastructure: Connectivity: options for telemedicine services o VSAT o PSTN o ISDN o Leased Line o Wireless LAN /WAN
39. Video conferencing boosts telemedicine Video conferencing is becoming quite popular among hospitals. By using this technology, doctors can help patients who are unable to come to the hospital. It especially benefits the rural populace since one cannot always get good doctors there. Telemedicine has turned out to be a blessing for patients who were otherwise deprived of the best treatment. Polycom is one company that’s providing video conferencing equipment to hospitals for tele-medicine.
40. Video conferencing boosts telemedicine A telemedicine system consists of customised hardware and software at two locations—the patient’s as well as the doctor’s end. These locations are usually connected by means of an Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN), Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) or Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) link, and the system is controlled by the network hub station of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
41. Video conferencing boosts telemedicine Polycom India provides video conferencing equipment for tele-medicine. Apollo and Escorts are their principal clients in this area.” The company’s video conferencing solution is called Unified Collaborative Communications (UCC). It helps to provide converged voice, video, web and data solutions for emerging broadband networks, and is designed to integrate with standard video-based medical end-points.
48. Broadband Broadband has come as a big boost to telemedicine. “With the availability of broadband, India is now becoming a hot destination for tele-medicine as it is a win-win situation for both the patients as well as hospitals.
49. The goal Telemedicine tools help deliver healthcare in medical disciplines like emergency medicine, behavioural science, dermatology, cardiology, radiology, paediatrics, obstetrics, oncology, dentistry, gastro-enterology, neurology, pathology, psychiatry, orthopaedics, family practice, ophthalmology and rheumatology. As Lavanian puts it, “The primary objective of tele-medicine is to provide quality healthcare assistance to every patient.
50. The goal Video conferencing also ensures that the patients are treated irrespective of their financial condition, and this makes it popular in most countries. It is expected that home-based patient monitoring is also going to become popular, as will remote surgery, which will involve surgery via robotics, with the surgeon in one location and the patient in another.
