Select a humanitarian crisis and include a short video (1-5 minutes) from YouTube or elsewhere that explains or defines your chosen crisis. Find a peer-reviewed article that describes an application of telemedicine that would be applicable to your selected crisis. Link to the video in your discussion board, and in 4-6 paragraphs, describe the technology employed that would be of benefit in your selected event, strategies used to overcome challenges posed by extreme conditions and lessons learned. Discuss whether your telemedicine site that you’re developing would be an asset in this situation. Whenever possible, link your ideas to the points made by Latifi in this week’s assigned reading. Be sure to appropriately cite your sources.
For your information, I am developing virtual telemedicine for the ruler area, who have difficulty getting health care and I am implementing telemedicine using cellphones or tablets for easy medical access.
Latifi, R. (Ed.). (2011), Telemedicine for trauma, emergencies, and disaster. Norwood, MA: Artech House, chapters 3, 11, and 22.
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Telemedicine For Humanitarian Medical Access
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySjzbT7rOGw (Telemedicine on the Front Lines)
The field of telehealth is an increasingly growing and complex field thanks to rapid innovations in technology. Initially conceived through telephone communication, the field of telemedicine has really evolved to be one of practicality and convenience especially in rural and cut of regions due to disasters and other instabilities. Bringing Telehealth To Humanitarian Settings by Moneeza Walji is an article that articulates the growing importance of telemedicine and its application by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) which is an international humanitarian organization that has continually applied the use of telemedicine since 2010.
Telemedicine on the Front Lines by MSF-USA identifies the increasing importance of telemedicine and its application in South Sudan (SS), in providing improved patient care by linking doctors across the globe with important referral avenues that may not be able to be identified within the immediate patient setting. The technology employed in this-particular setting example include a combination of live and asynchronous video conferencing, and remote patient monitoring.
A woman was admitted into a makeshift hospital in SS and she had shortness of breath. Upon conducting an ultrasound of her lungs and heart they discovered that in her heart and there were no cardiologists as such they sent the video clip to a telemedicine doctor in Canada, who contacted a Cardiologist in California, who diagnosed the condition yo be mitral stenosis (a life threatening condition) that could not have been easily diagnosed on the ground. The collaborated with two specialists in Paris and Australia who recommended an elective C-section and a tubal ligation for the patient which saved her life.
Access to internet and advanced communication devices that are tailored to patient care has been of key importance in pushing forth telemedicine and it efficiency in humanitarian regions. Walji (2015) identifies that with increase in access to cheaper technological devices more and more regions of the world are getting connected to quality health care, with 91% of users defining the MSF portal as very helpful and 81% identifying that it improved remote patient management.
The main challenge being experienced at the moment is with regard to response time often differs between field workers and consultants at the other end of the line. This is because the technology is in its infancy and may not be very responsive and additionally, a few number of participant consultants serving the global field at the same time totaling 271 for MSF portal (Walji, 2015). The article reveals that response time could take as much as 24 hours. This is dismal considering the fact that anyone in the world is only a phone call away. Latifi (2011) identifies that while distance and availability of medical services in the ground might be a problem especially for specialized services such as stoke, a 24/7 immediate availability of panel of specialist would be the best recommended way to manage such emergencies. This is especially very important for geographically disadvantaged regions in rural and disaster zones.
On the contrary a variety fo aspects have been instituted to provide better service access and balance the limitation with the advantages. The MSF portal provides high quality and field appropriate information setting. Also a the consultants can access metrics about the capacity of each field site which is helpful in providing informed recommendations relative to the staff available.
References
Latifi, R. (Ed.). (2011), Telemedicine for trauma, emergencies, and disaster. Norwood, MA: Artech House, chapters 3, 11, and 22
Walji, M. (2015). Bringing telehealth to humanitarian settings. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 187(4), E123-E124. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.109-4987
