Ensuring the Continuity of Medical Care At the Stage of Patients Rehabilitation

Abstract

The problems of ensuring continuity of medical care are considered. Information and cybernetic issues of continuity, in particular information standards, resource management systems of a medical institution, are analyzed. It emphasizes the need to develop standards for the continuity of care. It is concluded that long-term continuity of medical measures in rehabilitation is one of the main components of the effectiveness of medical care. Further qualitative research is needed, including some types of rehabilitation services (e. g. specialized medical care). At the same time the most important factors for ensuring continuity at the current stage of medicine development are the use of ontologies, representing the most general conceptual concepts of the modeled field of medicine, completely abstracted from specific models of knowledge representation and practical implementation. It is also shown that the specification of the patient management model in the rehabilitation period of treatment is provided by a wide application of telemedicine consultations. The index of continuity of medical aid is also proposed. It represents a simple additive function that reflects the change in the probability of an unfavorable outcome.

Establishing Telemedicine in an Academic Total Joint Arthroplasty Practice: Needs and Opportunities Highlighted by the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Telemedicine uses audiovisual technological aids to help care for patients [1] and has historically been used to provide care for patients in rural and low-resource settings [2,3]. Telemedicine involves a range of technologies, including "smartphones," computer tablets, mobile applications, and video conferencing, to allow health-care providers to evaluate, diagnose, monitor, treat, and educate patients "virtually" [3,4].…”