SPRA-GROUP collaborated with several Indian
physicians to create orissamedical.com, a comprehensive healthcare
portal like no other. In addition to offering abundant health-related
reference materials, orissamedical.com offers
"Telemedicine"
online medical consultation,
online appointment scheduling,
and online lab results for
physicians & patients.
Telemedicine is a
rapidly developing
application of
clinical medicine
where medical
information is
transferred via
telephone, the
Internet or other
networks for the
purpose of
consulting, and
sometimes remote
medical procedures
or examinations.
Telemedicine
may be as simple as
two health
professionals
discussing a case
over the telephone,
or as complex as
using satellite
technology and
video-conferencing
equipment to conduct
a real-time
consultation between
medical specialists
in two different
countries.
Telemedicine
generally refers to
the use of
communications and
information
technologies for the
delivery of clinical
care.
Clinical uses of
telehealth
technologies
Transmission of
medical images for
diagnosis (often
referred to as store
and forward
telehealth)
Groups or
individuals
exchanging health
services or
education live via
videoconference
(real-time
telehealth)
Transmission of
medical data for
diagnosis or disease
management
(sometimes referred
to as remote
monitoring)
Advice on
prevention of
diseases and
promotion of good
health by patient
monitoring and
followup.
Health advice by
telephone in
emergent
cases(referred to as
teletriage)
Nonclinical uses of
telehealth
technologies
Distance
education including
continuing medical
education, grand
rounds, and patient
education
Administrative uses
including meetings
among telehealth
networks,
supervision, and
presentations
Research
Online
information and
health data
management
heathcare
system integration
asset
identification,
listing, and patient
to asset matching,
and movement
overall
healtcare system
management
patient
movement and remote
admission
Store-and-forward
telehealth
In
store-and-forward
telehealth, digital
images, video, audio
and clinical data
are captured and
"stored" on the
client computer;
then at a convenient
time transmitted
securely
("forwarded") to a
clinic at another
location where they
are studied by
relevant
specialists. The
opinion of the
specialist is then
transmitted back.
Based on the
requirements of the
participating
healthcare entities,
this roundtrip could
take between 2 to 48
hours. In many
store-and-forward
specialties, such as
teleradiology, an
immediate response
is not critical.
Dermatology,
radiology and
pathology are common
specialties that are
conducive to
store-and-forward
technologies.
Real-time telehealth
In real-time
telehealth, a
telecommunications
link allows
instantaneous
interaction.
Video-conferencing
equipment is one of
the most common
forms of synchronous
telemedicine.
Peripheral devices
can also be attached
to computers or the
video-conferencing
equipment which can
aid in an
interactive
examination. With
the availability of
better and cheaper
communication
channels, direct
two-way audio and
video streaming
between centers
through computers is
leading to lower
costs.
