18 November 2012 | last updated at 08:25AM
Progressing
towards using telehealth
SINGAPORE: REMOTE CARE: A growing ageing population, shortage of
doctors and nurses are leading to change
HOSPITALS in Malaysia
should consider investing more in telehealth to improve healthcare delivery and
efficiency in the country.
Telehealth or
telemedicine involves the use of proprietary software and electronic devices
with audio and visual capabilities to assist in the provision of medical care
to patients.
"With only 30
intensivists (intensive care unit specialists) in Malaysia, remote areas with
less developed healthcare facilities, for example in East Malaysia, can
capitalise on the expertise available in the peninsula by centrally managing
patients across the nation.
"This would help
improve the overall healthcare quality across the whole country," said
Philips Healthcare Asia Pacific senior vice-president and commercial leader
Wayne Spittle in an interview during a healthcare session at the Philips Asia
Media Summit here recently.
Spittle said telehealth
solutions would not take away the personal interaction between patients and
hospital staff as it still provides the human touch through its audio and
visual capabilities.
"There is immediate
medical attention throughout the day, unlike the standard mode of operation
today, where patients need to wait to receive medical attention because of
travel time between wards and across the entire hospital."
Several countries have
begun capitalising on telehealth.
At a general hospital in
Orange, New South Wales, Australia, beds have been linked to a clinical
information portfolio computer system to give staff immediate access to
patients' conditions from a central location.
Singapore hospitals have
invested in ICU IT solutions to enable critical care medical staff to actively
monitor patients in ICUs from remote locations.
The Hanh Phuc
International Women and Children hospital in Vietnam has a central
maternal-fetal monitoring station as well as wireless foetal monitoring
solutions which provide clinicians with vital information to track patients
throughout the labour and delivery period.
Surgeons at the
Methodist Hospital in Houston, the United States, use a robotic system
controlled from a remote location to unblock the arteries of patients with
blocked peripheral arteries. Using video and integrated medical devices,
medical experts are now providing services to communities in the most remote
areas.
Industry analyst
Datamonitor estimated that this year, the global spending on overall telehealth
market (including home telehealth) will exceed US$6 billion (RM18.4 billion).
Spittle said with a
growing ageing populations, the rise of chronic non-communicable diseases and
the shortage of doctors and nurses, hospitals would lead the shift to
telehealth solutions.
References:News Strait Times online and http://malaysianmedicine.blogspot.com
* http://malaysianmedicine.blogspot.com - This blogspot has been provide many news related health information in Malaysia
