Tools & Equipment

Telemedicine and eHealth are enabled by use of specific hardware and software solutions (devices, tools, applications and services) [74]. eHealth tools support the aggregation, analysis and storage of clinical data in all its forms; information tools provide access to the latest findings; while communication tools enable collaboration among many different organizations and health professionals.

The major electronic tools and applications used by TM and eH are:

• Health information networks linking hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies, primary care facilities, social care centers, as well as health practitioners; the basic network unit is Hospital / Laboratory Information System (HIS / LIS), Personal Information System (PIS), Primary Care Information System (PCIS), among others.

• The basic operational element of the above is Electronic Health Record (EHR, EMR, EPR), which may incorporate advanced features like Physician Order Entry (POR), and clinical Decision Support Tool (DST).

• Important functionalities of the health information networks include electronic patient management and administration systems – e-referral, e-prescription, e-reimbursement, as well as Electronic Health Insurance Cards (eHIC).

This spectrum of solutions provides comprehensive digital data input, storage, transfer and retrieval mechanisms for paperless and borderless management of patients’ clinical information and documentation.

• Web-based Personal Health Records (PHR); Internet Health Information Portals for health care specialists and consumers.

Specific equipment used in TM and eH services can be categorized as follows:

• Videoconferencing equipment for real-time digital video- and audio-signal transmission between two or more remote locations. Includes typically high definition video cameras, CODEC (digital coding-decoding devices), monitors, and telecommunication links.

• Specialized diagnostic equipment for capturing patients’ diagnostic information in digital format (or digitalizing other formats). An example of these is Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) used to store and transfer patients’ radiology.

• Personal wearable and portable communicable systems for remote monitoring patients’ health data and supporting clinical management at a distance.

Telemedicine networks and operators typically use this highly specific equipment arranged in the form of workstations at two sites:

• Referral, peripheral, originating, or distant site – the site sending in patient's information and requesting a consultation or medical advice.

• Consult, central, receiving, or hub site – the site receiving remote patient's data and providing medical treatment or advice.

Fig. 2: Typical referral (above) and consult (below) workstations [Courtesy TMD Systems; with permission]