Emergency TeleOrthoPaedics m-health system for wireless communication links

For the first time, a complete wireless and mobile emergency TeleOrthoPaedics system with field trials and expert opinion is presented. The system enables doctors in a remote area to obtain a second opinion from doctors in the hospital using secured wireless telecommunication networks. Doctors can exchange securely medical images and video as well as other important data, and thus perform remote consultations, fast and accurately using a user friendly interface, via a reliable and secure telemedicine system of low cost. The quality of the transmitted compressed (JPEG2000) images was measured using different metrics and doctors opinions. The results have shown that all metrics were within acceptable limits. The performance of the system was evaluated successfully under different wireless communication links based on real data

Web Services and IT Management in Healthcare and Grid Computing

Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care defines , health as not just absence of disease but fitness at all levels i.e.Physically, mentally, Psychologically, spirtually, socially, and so on. RCH emphasizes fitness at all level along with health education and medical education. For the last one decade IT has contributed substantially in the healthcare domain. Tele-Medicine, Health informatics, using IT for Health for Prevention, curing, rehabilitation, Medical Education and accessing resources are the some of them.Web Services, IT Management, IT in healthcare, Health Informatics

Engaging ICTs as a “Tool” for eHealth prioritization on human development and poverty reduction in the African region

The association connecting information and communication technologies (ICTs) and well-being or poverty remains vague and research today has resulted to divergent conclusions. This paper defines ICTs as “tools” that facilitate communication and the processing and transmission of information and the sharing of knowledge by electronic means. In the African region context, we examine ICTs utilization that aims to improve the provision, access and information management in the health sector. This paper considers access to information as very important benefits that can be achieved in many areas including economic growth, education and healthcare. In healthcare, the roles that ICT plays in ensuring that health information is provided to healthcare providers and consumers to support improving the health of individuals and strengthening health systems, disease detection and prevention are crucial to development and poverty reduction as stated in the UN’s MDGs. For example, access to appropriate information can minimise visits to physicians and periods of hospitalisation for patients suffering from chronic conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, hypertension and HIV/AIDS. This will in turn reduce the cost of healthcare provision. ICTs have the potential to impact almost every aspect of health sector. The paper then proposed how ICTs can be used to reduce poverty and ensure that health information is well administered and reaches the right people, at the right time and in the right form

A Review on Provisioning Quality of Service of Wireless Telemedicine for E-Health Services

In general, on-line medical consultation reduces time required for medical consultation induces improvement in the quality and efficiency of healthcare services. All major types of current e-health applications such as ECG, X-ray, video, diagnosis images and other common applications have been included in the scope of the study. In addition, the provision of Quality of Service (QoS) for the application of specific healthcare services in e-health, the scheme of priority for e-health services and the support of QoS in wireless networks and techniques or methods for IEEE 802.11 to guarantee the provision of QoS has also been assessed. In e-health, medical services in remote locations such as rural healthcare centers, ambulances, ships as well as home healthcare services can be supported through the applications of e-health services such as medical databases, electronic health records and the routing of text, audio, video and images. Given this, an adaptive resource allocation for a wireless network with multiple service types and multiple priorities have been proposed. For the provision of an acceptable QoS level to users of e-health services, prioritization is an important criterion in a multi-traffic network. The requirement for QoS provisioning in wireless broadband medical networks have paved the pathway for bandwidth requirements and the real-time or live transmission of medical applications. From the study, good performance of the proposed scheme has been validated by the results obtained. The proposed wireless network is capable of handling medical applications for both normal and life-threatening conditions as characterized by the level of emergencies. In addition, the bandwidth allocation and admission control algorithm for IEEE 802.16- based design specifically for wireless telemedicine/e-health services have also been presented in the study. It has been concluded that under busy traffic conditions, the proposed architecture can used as a feasible and reliable infrastructure network for telemedicine

The organizational implications of medical imaging in the context of Malaysian hospitals

This research investigated the implementation and use of medical imaging in the context of Malaysian hospitals. In this report medical imaging refers to PACS, RIS/HIS and imaging modalities which are linked through a computer network. The study examined how the internal context of a hospital and its external context together influenced the implementation of medical imaging, and how this in turn shaped organizational roles and relationships within the hospital itself. It further investigated how the implementation of the technology in one hospital affected its implementation in another hospital. The research used systems theory as the theoretical framework for the study. Methodologically, the study used a case-based approach and multiple methods to obtain data. The case studies included two hospital-based radiology departments in Malaysia. The outcomes of the research suggest that the implementation of medical imaging in community hospitals is shaped by the external context particularly the role played by the Ministry of Health. Furthermore, influences from both the internal and external contexts have a substantial impact on the process of implementing medical imaging and the extent of the benefits that the organization can gain. In the context of roles and social relationships, the findings revealed that the routine use of medical imaging has substantially affected radiographers’ roles, and the social relationships between non clinical personnel and clinicians. This study found no change in the relationship between radiographers and radiologists. Finally, the approaches to implementation taken in the hospitals studied were found to influence those taken by other hospitals. Overall, this study makes three important contributions. Firstly, it extends Barley’s (1986, 1990) research by explicitly demonstrating that the organization’s internal and external contexts together shape the implementation and use of technology, that the processes of implementing and using technology impact upon roles, relationships and networks and that a role-based approach alone is inadequate to examine the outcomes of deploying an advanced technology. Secondly, this study contends that scalability of technology in the context of developing countries is not necessarily linear. Finally, this study offers practical contributions that can benefit healthcare organizations in Malaysia

Secure telemedicine system for home health care

This thesis describes a low-cost telemedicine system that provides home based patient care by linking patients with skilled nurses at the home care agency. The system employs compact vital signs sensors and a two-way real-time video conference over telephone lines. It stores the patient\u27s medical records, still images and enforces clinical pathways during the televisits. Physicians, paramedics, and nurses can then have access to these records from anywhere, securely, through a Web browser.;This document discusses the underlying technologies, the features implemented in the prototype, and the methodologies used in developing the software. The prototype uses the Enterprise Java Bean [EJB] architecture and emphasizes security and scalability. Preliminary experience of its use is presented. A performance analysis of the system\u27s behavior if it were scaled up has also been done