Telemedicine - connecting health care providers and patients via computer or smart phone for diagnosis and treatment - has been making it easier, and more cost-effective, to "see" the doctor. Using a camera-enabled computer or smart phone, patients with common health concerns can get some diagnoses without leaving their homes. Emergency room doctors and nurses are able to communicate…
For epilepsy patients and attending physicians, it has been a challenge to correctly assess the frequency and severity of epileptic seizures without inpatient recording equipment. A consortium coordinated by the epileptologists of the University Hospital Bonn is now developing a mobile sensor that can detect seizures. A warning signal is designed to summon relatives or attending physicians to…
MRI, CT, pathology: doctors have to consider medical image data – increasing in both amount and complexity – to perform diagnoses and monitor therapy. The Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS in Bremen is creating a new approach to provide effective assistance.
The second annual COCIR* eHealth Summit took place last week in Brussels, Belgium, in cooperation with the European Commission and in partnership with European Hospital and Healthcare Foundation (HOPE) and the European Patients Forum (EPF). This year high level speakers and participants shared their insights on integrated care as a response to some of the most pressing challenges currently faced…
After evaluating content on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis on almost 200 websites, researchers with medical backgrounds found that the information on IPF from these sites was often incomplete, inaccurate and outdated. The study, "Accuracy and Reliability of Internet Resources for Information on Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis" highlights the need for the medical community to continually…
More than 50 million Americans live in rural areas, and many have limited access to health care. For someone living far from an urban area, local specialty care for complex health issues is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. For years, telemedicine programs across the country have connected rural patients to specialists in urban settings. Now, a study by University of Missouri School of…
Collaborating with colleagues locally and globally using telepathology can be successful for facilities both financially and clinically, says Dr. Liron Pantanowitz, director of pathology informatics at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Pantanowitz, who also serves as a consultant to Onyx, a company that provides digital pathology technology and is joint venture between GE Healthcare…
Royal Philips and its ACT-program consortium partners today announced the debut of a ‘cookbook’ outlining key enablers necessary to scale connected care and telehealth programs. The cookbook is the result from a two-and-a-half year scientific evaluation of data from different connected health programs in five European regions. It provides new insights that apply across the EU on why certain…
As part of the MEDICA 2015, the world’s largest medical trade fair with almost 5,000 exhibitors from 70 nations, the “MEDICA App COMPETITION” for the best medical app has been held live for the fourth time already.
Increasing requirements for specialisation and diagnostic quality in pathology on the one hand and the importance of pathology findings for treatment planning on the other hand call for new solutions in pathomorphological diagnostics. One important starting point is the fast-paced opportunity for digitalisation along with communication systems which facilitate the storage and transfer of large…
Telemedicine is taking strides throughout Europe. While in Germany telemedicine projects appear to be off to a slow start (see the electronic health card), in other countries progress is going full throttle. In September, at the German-Dutch symposium ‘Using optimisation potential: Telemedicine and procurement management’ a number of Dutch approaches were presented. Report: Sylvia Schulz
Although there are many telemedically supported care concepts in Germany, most are still model projects. So far, only a minority has become part of nationwide, standard medical care. Methodically solid and thoroughly published evaluations can help to make the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of telemedicine applications more transparent for decision makers. With their recently developed…
Given the increasing focus on telehealth and telecare services aimed at improving long-term patients’ living conditions and save costs, numerous pilots in various countries have been conducted for proof of concept purposes. Among these, the United Kingdom’s ‘Whole System Demonstrator’ (WSD) programme is the largest randomised controlled trial. Set up by the English National Health Service…
The 13th edition of Med-e-Tel, the International Telemedicine and eHealth Forum, will take place on 22-24 April 2015 at the Luxexpo Exhibition and Congress Center in Luxembourg.
Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) were able to enroll patients at other hospitals into an acute stroke clinical trial.
Venture capitalists are betting $100 million that an entrepreneur can develop an inexpensive and portable imaging device that can be used by office-based physicians.
The Ebola virus disease training modules for health care workers developed in collaboration between experts at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are now available.
Although telemedicine could improve the quality of life of patients with chronic liver diseases, viable home care systems are still lacking. However, within the EU-project ‘d-LIVER’ (www.d-liver.eu) scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT, in St. Ingbert, Germany, are working with European partners to develop an IT- and cell-based system that will help chronic…
Johns Hopkins Medicine has been tasked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to lead a group and to design an interactive Web-based learning program that guides health care workers, nurses and physicians through government-approved protocols to aid clinicians as they provide care to patients who may be at risk of contracting the Ebola virus.
Carestream Health announces cooperation with MSC Cruises and Italy’s Gaslini Institute in Genoa, Italy. As part of this collaborative effort, Carestream will be providing a cloud-based teleconsultation portal to enable the Institute to deliver remote diagnosis, specialist second opinions, patient monitoring and referrals wherever needed at any time.
Some time this year, exact date unknown, Google Glass – a miniature computer attached to a pair of glasses – is expected to make its consumer debut.
Olympus launches its OlyVIA Mobile iPad App, an image viewer dedicated to virtual slides.
Fast, secure telemedicine solution delivers HD visual teleconsultation to hundreds of healthcare organizations worldwide
Mobile healthcare is a major buzzword nowadays: take the devices and the data to the patient, not the other way round. Mobility in this concept is not restricted to the hospital where devices and data flow freely from department to department, but encompasses follow-up care at home. Report: Anja Behringer
Ageing populations, struggling healthcare systems, medical staff shortages, rising costs – all are well recognised. Thus telemedicine, dubbed the ‘gold rush of the 21st century’ earlier in the year by Jonathan D Linkous, CEO of the American Telemedicine Association (ATA), is gaining momentum.