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How many of us, by now accustomed to waiting eons for a medical cert or a check-up, have dreamed of sidestepping the interminable queues to see a specialist or have imagined a situation in which we could chat with our GP from the comfort of the sitting room while he/she analyses the results of our recent tests from a monitor?
And yet, healthcare without restrictions and obstacles, propped up by the most up-to-date means of communication, need no longer be a pipe dream. On the contrary, it is the next major challenge facing the advanced industrialised nations. As a company operating in the telecommunications sector, and hence capable of providing computerised solutions, Telecom Italia could, in the future, play a key role in achieving the “telemedicine” objective.
While certainly still in experimental phase, telemedicine and the telemonitoring service are nevertheless already a reality. Indeed, MyDoctor@Home is a multimedia ICT platform on which Telecom Italia researchers are currently working. It is capable of linking up various communications devices (cell phones, computers, videophones, hand-held computers etc.) inwireless, mode, and can be of benefit to local health authorities and hospitals.
The stages of the process
A platform of this type allows the user/customer to measure several physiological parameters via remote link (for example, from his/her own home) with user-friendly portable detection devices which can send the test results directly to a Service Centre or Medical Centre. Doctors can then assess the accuracy of the test results over against the patient’s medical history and, if necessary, interact with the patient using the video assistance service or, more simply, by phone. Figure 1 provides a simple example of the data flows between the interested parties and the methods that need to be adopted so that the procedure functions correctly.
In accordance with agreed schedules, patients receive reminder notes from the doctors regarding the therapies to be followed and the tests to carry out, and can also communicate a series of vital test results (i.e. glycaemia, blood pressure, oxygen saturation levels in the blood, lung capacity, and so forth) by means of a cell phone connected to a networked platform.
In short, the mobile phone operates as a sort of “middle-man” between the medical equipment and the platform and facilitates the immediate transmission of information regarding the patient’s general state of health. For their part, doctors write up a report on the values received, monitor the progress of the therapy and, if required, propose corrective measures (i.e. changes to the therapy, frequency of tests etc.).
The service is targeted mainly at chronic patients, such as diabetics and cardiopaths, whose biomedical parameters need to be monitored constantly, but also at patients for whom modern clinics or hospitals are too far away or difficult to reach. Methods such as those just mentioned can contribute enormously to the reduction of health costs while expanding the range of medical services that health institutions can offer. Furthermore, clinical information on chronic patients will be accessible to health personnel anywhere without restrictions of time or space.
This innovative technology for providing cutting-edge medical services is made possible by the combination of telecommunications and ICT.
All medical equipment used is kitted out with a radio interface that enables the automatic and wireless transmission of physiological parameters from the medical devices to the cell phone.
Another innovative feature is the availability of alternative channels for consultation and monitoring of results. Indeed, a patient’s data can be viewed not only on a dedicated web portal, but also by means of other devices such as TV screens, new generation videophones or hand-held computers (again all this is still in experimental phase).