Store-and-Forward Teleneurology in Developing Countries

Patterson, Victor; Hoque, F.; Vassallo, David; Mj, Roberts; Swinfen, P; Swinfen, R

doi:10.1177/1357633x010070s121

Cited by 32 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Interestingly, specialists markedly underestimated the benefit of their consultations as shown in Table 9. This has been noted previously in a study of email teleneurology (7). The likely explanation is that referrers feel considerably empowered by specialist advice even though the specialists do not think that they offered anything new.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

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A web-based telemedicine system for low-resource settings 13 years on: insights from referrers and specialists

Patterson

Wootton

2013

Global Health Action

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BackgroundOne way to tackle health inequalities in resource-poor settings is to establish links between doctors and health professionals there and specialists elsewhere using web-based telemedicine. One such system run by the Swinfen Charitable Trust has been in existence for 13 years which is an unusually long time for such systems.ObjectiveWe wanted to gain some insights into whether and how this system might be improved.MethodsWe carried out a survey by questionnaire of referrers and specialists over a six months period.ResultsDuring the study period, a total of 111 cases were referred from 35 different practitioners, of whom 24% were not doctors. Survey replies were received concerning 67 cases, a response rate of 61 per cent. Eighty-seven per cent of the responding referrers found the telemedicine advice useful, and 78% were able to follow the advice provided. As a result of the advice received, the diagnosis was changed in 22% of all cases and confirmed in a further 18 per cent. Patient management was changed in 33 per cent. There was no substantial difference between doctors and non-doctors. During the study period, the 111 cases were responded to by 148 specialists, from whom 108 replies to the questionnaire were received, a response rate of 73 per cent. About half of the specialists (47%) felt that their advice had improved the management of the patients. There were 62 cases where it was possible to match up the opinions of the referrer and the consultants about the value of a specific teleconsultation. In 34 cases (55%) the referrers and specialists agreed about the value. However, in 28 cases (45%) they did not: specialists markedly underestimated the value of a consultation compared to referrers. Both referrers and specialist were extremely positive about the system which appears to be working well. Minor changes such as a clearer referral template and an improved web interface for specialists may improve it.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…The opinions of a neurologist who dealt with neurology referrals by email were recorded in two separate situations (7, 8). The present study was therefore conducted to obtain the views of both referrers and specialists in a longstanding telemedicine network.…”

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confidence: 99%

A web-based telemedicine system for low-resource settings 13 years on: insights from referrers and specialists

Patterson

Wootton

2013

Global Health Action

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“…General neurological outpatient clinics and neuro-ophthalmology clinics using telemedicine can be conducted using telemedicine with similar investigation and followup rates as face-to-face consultation [13,49]. E-mail has been used to triage general neurological outpatient referrals [50], self-referral from patients and carers of patients with dementia [16,51], and referral across continents [40,52,53].…”

Section: Epilepsy and Neurology Outpatient Clinicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teleneurology: is it really at a distance?

Agarwal

Warburton

2011

J Neurol

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Telemedicine refers to the transfer of medical information from one site to another using distance communications technology. This approach has benefitted many medical specialties, with telestroke being a prelude to its applications in neurology. Our review will focus on the use of telemedicine in neurological practice (teleneurology) following a brief discussion of telestroke. Given the emerging nature of trial evidence in teleneurology, our aim is to provide a narrative review and highlight areas that merit further investigation.

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“…9 Thus, telemedicine can be particularly beneficial for people living in underserved and hardto-reach areas where lack of both health facilities and healthcare professionals exist. [10][11][12] This paper has been prepared based on a narrative review of available literature in order to understand the role of telemedicine to reduce existing inequality and to increase overall accessibility to healthcare services. The review was conducted following some specific questions:…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

<p>Telemedicine in Resource-Limited Setting: Narrative Synthesis of Evidence in Nepalese Context</p>

Siddiquee¹,

Poudyal²,

Pandey³

et al. 2020

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The traditional model of health services imposes limitations, especially in resourcelimited countries like Nepal. Introduction to information technology can mitigate various challenges like geographic complexity, urban-rural disparity, poor accessibility, shortage of healthcare professionals, inadequate health facilities, higher cost, and time. Nepal is a resourcelimited country with diverse geographic features making it hard to have proper access to healthcare facilities. Telemedicine service has the potential to improve service quality and accessibility of the disadvantaged and underserved population by overcoming the existing challenges. The objective of this review was to explore the roles of telemedicine in vanquishing existing challenges. Seven data sources (namely CINAHL, PubMed, POPLINE, Web of Science, Scopus, DOAJ and Summon) were consulted using five keywords (telemedicine, telehealth, eHealth, mHealth and Nepal to find the literature using the Boolean operator AND) to obtain the relevant materials. The narrative synthesis method was used to review papers and to analyze the findings. This review selected 27 papers for further analysis by scrutinizing 1161 initial search results. The most common features of telemedicine services so far, implemented or piloted in Nepal, were addressing geographic remoteness (21%), a shortage of in healthcare service providers (11%), saving time (11%), addressing challenges of extreme conditions (10%), cost saving (9%), service quality (9%) and real-time services (8%). Some other features of telemedicine were communication, transportation, referral, collaboration, addressing challenges in proper diagnosis and the shortage of health professionals. In a nutshell, the review findings suggested improved service quality, increased collaboration and accessibility and decreased the disparity in comparison with traditional health service models. Although it cannot be said that telemedicine in Nepal has been mainstreamed, yet the appeal is increasing due to its positive impact, especially in rural and hard-to-reach areas where with a lack of healthcare set-up and professionals.

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Store-and-Forward Teleneurology in Developing Countries

Cited by 32 publications

References 3 publications

A web-based telemedicine system for low-resource settings 13 years on: insights from referrers and specialists

A web-based telemedicine system for low-resource settings 13 years on: insights from referrers and specialists

Teleneurology: is it really at a distance?

<p>Telemedicine in Resource-Limited Setting: Narrative Synthesis of Evidence in Nepalese Context</p>

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