Developing Next-Generation Telehealth Tools and Technologies: Patients, Systems, and Data Perspectives

Abstract

The major goals of telemedicine today are to develop next-generation telehealth tools and technologies to enhance healthcare delivery to medically underserved populations using telecommunication technology, to increase access to medical specialty services while decreasing healthcare costs, and to provide training of healthcare providers, clinical trainees, and students in health-related fields. Key drivers for these tools and technologies are the need and interest to collaborate among telehealth stakeholders, including patients, patient communities, research funders, researchers, healthcare services providers, professional societies, industry, healthcare management= economists, and healthcare policy makers. In the development, marketing, adoption, and implementation of these tools and technologies, communication, training, cultural sensitivity, and end-user customization are critical pieces to the process. Next-generation tools and technologies are vehicles toward personalized medicine, extending the telemedicine model to include cell phones and Internet-based telecommunications tools for remote and home health management with video assessment, remote bedside monitoring, and patient-specific care tools with event logs, patient electronic profile, and physician note-writing capability. Telehealth is ultimately a system of systems in scale and complexity. To cover the full spectrum of dynamic and evolving needs of end-users, we must appreciate system complexity as telehealth moves toward increasing functionality, integration, interoperability, outreach, and quality of service. Toward that end, our group addressed three overarching questions: (1) What are the highimpact topics? (2) What are the barriers to progress? and (3) What roles can the National Institutes of Health and its various institutes and centers play in fostering the future development of telehealth?

Endockscope: Using Mobile Technology to Create Global Point of Service Endoscopy

“…Moreover, the data, when acquired from any location, can be tailored to patientspecific care tools with event logs, patient electronic profiles, and recording of the entire endoscopic procedure for later editing. 5 Finally, smartphones continue to gain new features and improvements with each iteration. Rather than relying on the medical device company to update the software and hardware, there will be new consumer driven device options that will further impact on the features and user friendly nature of the smartphone that can then be immediately applied to endoscopy.…”

“…[1][2][3][4] There is a shift toward incorporating mobile technology into different facets of preventive, diagnostic, and personalized medicine. [5][6][7][8] This mobile technology continues to become ever more sophisticated and broad in its application even as its cost decreases.…”

Medical Cyber-Physical Systems

“…m) Security and Privacy: While networking capabilities let medical devices acquire functionality that was never possible previously, they also open the door to a host of new potential problems. Security and privacy concerns are some of those new problems [1]. An attacker who penetrates an MCPS network has the potential to harm and even kill patients by reprogramming devices [7].…”

Exploring the effectiveness of a mindfulness training app for managing stress in a university student population : a pilot study

“…To overcome these limits, self-help approaches and telehealth-based treatments are being developed in an attempt to enhance treatment fidelity, effectiveness, and accessibility (Ackerman, Filart, Burgess, Lee, & Poropatich, 2010;Cusack et al, 2008;Oliver & Demiris, 2010;VandenBos & Williams, 2000). Self-help approaches may help to bridge the gap of individuals that could benefit from health-related interventions, but are not currently using traditional university health services.…”

“…Although there are a number of strategies typically used to cope with stress, including relaxation techniques, promotion of a healthy lifestyle, and cognitivebehavioral therapies (e.g., stress inoculation therapy, rational emotive therapy, cognitive restructuring, and behavioral rehearsal), these strategies often require significant professional training and expertise to administer, as well as people, time, and resources, which can be difficult to achieve. To overcome these limits, self-help approaches and telehealth-based treatments are being developed in an attempt to enhance treatment fidelity, effectiveness, and accessibility (Ackerman, Filart, Burgess, Lee, & Poropatich, 2010;Cusack et al, 2008;Oliver & Demiris, 2010;VandenBos & Williams, 2000), and may help to bridge the gap of people that could benefit from health-related interventions but are not currently using traditional university health services.…”