Physiotherapy Using Kinect

Abstract

What Services Can Be Provided by Telemedicine? Sometimes telemedicine is best understood in terms of the services provided and the mechanisms used to provide those services. Here are some examples: Primary care and specialist referral services may involve a primary care or allied health professional providing a consultation with a patient or a specialist assisting the primary care physician in rendering a diagnosis. This may involve the use of live interactive video or the use of store-and-forward transmission of diagnostic images, vital signs, and/or video clips along with patient data. Remote patient monitoring, including home telehealth, uses devices to remotely collect and send data to a home-health agency or a remote diagnostic testing facility (RDTF) for interpretation. Such applications might include a specific vital sign, such as blood glucose or heart ECG, or a variety of indicators for homebound patients. Such services may supplement the use of visiting nurses. Consumer medical and health information includes the use of the Internet and wireless devices for patients to obtain specialized health information and access online discussion groups that provide peerto-peer support. Medical education provides continuing medical education credits for health professionals and special medical education seminars for targeted groups in remote locations. • What Delivery Mechanisms Can Be Used? Networked programs link tertiary care hospitals and clinics with outlying clinics and community health centers in rural or suburban areas. The links may use dedicated high-speed lines or the Internet for telecommunication links between sites. American Telemedicine Association (ATA) estimates the number of existing telemedicine networks in the United States at roughly 200, providing connectivity to over 3,000 sites. Point-to-point connections using private high-speed networks are used by hospitals and clinics that deliver services directly or outsource specialty services to independent medical service providers. Such outsourced services include radiology, stroke assessment, mental health, and intensive care (ICU) services. Monitoring center links are used for cardiac, pulmonary or fetal monitoring, and home care services. Often normal land-line or wireless connections are used to communicate directly between the patient and the center, although some systems use the Internet. Web-based e-health patient service sites provide direct patient outreach and services over the Internet. Under tele medicine, these include those sites that provide direct patient careTelemedicine is the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another through electronic communications to improve a patient’s clinical health status. Telemedicine includes a growing variety of applications and services using two-way video, e-mail, smart phones, wireless tools, and other forms of telecommunications technology