Telemedicine Utilization to Support the Management of the Burns Treatment Involving Patient Pathways in Both Developed and Developing Countries

Abstract

This case study reports on the utilization of telemedicine to support the management of the burns treatment in the islands of Sao Tome and Principe by Taipei Medical University-affiliated hospital in Taiwan. The authors share experiences about usage of telemedicine to support treatment of the burn victims in a low-income country that receive reconstructive surgery in a developed country. Throughout the entire care process, telemedicine has been used not only to provide an expert advice from distance but also to help establish and maintain the doctor-patient relationship, to keep patients in contact with their families, and to help educate and consult the medical personal physically present in Sao Tome and Principe. This case study presents the details of how this process has been conducted to date, on what were learned from this process, and on issues that should be considered to improve this process in the future. The authors plan to create instructional videos and post them on YouTube to aid clinical workers providing similar treatment during the acute care and rehabilitation process and also to support eLearning in many situations where it otherwise is not possible to use videoconferencing to establish real-time contact between doctors at the local site and remote specialists.

Mobile teledermatology for a prompter and more efficient dermatological care in rural Mongolia

“…The adoption of technology could offer new opportunities for patient benefit in term of costs, better care and in turn, better outcomes . Telemedicine is a promising tool to ameliorate the widening healthcare supply and demand gap through which the reach of consultants can be digitally extended, allowing them to virtually cover larger or remote regions . Smartphone applications have been shown to be a simple, feasible and reliable method for performing store‐and‐forward teledermatology consultations in rural unpopulated areas.…”

Rehabilitation practices for burn survivors in low and middle income countries: A literature review

“…Of the 17 studies identified, 12 were descriptive accounts of burn rehabilitation services, including two retrospective reviews of patient records [21,22], three quantitative surveys [23][24][25], two case studies [26,27], one prospective follow-up study [28], two qualitative studies [29,30], and two descriptive reviews [31,32]. Only five studies evaluated the effectiveness of rehabilitation servicesthis included one randomised controlled trail of a massage therapy intervention [33], one clinical trial of a comprehensive rehabilitation program comprised of occupational therapy, physiotherapy and education for patients and carers [34], one comparison study investigating rehabilitation outcomes following intensive physiotherapy consultations provided in addition to standard medical care [35], and two pre-post design studies; one evaluating a scar management program [36] and a second reviewing the effect of psychotherapy sessions on mental health outcomes of burns patients [37].…”

Surgical care in the developing world-strategies and framework for improvement

“…Other tools such as checklists, 47 simulation and telemedicine 21,48 have also been successfully used to improve surgical care. Morbidity and mortality meetings also offer a means of appraisal of care delivered and outcomes and can help improve surgical care across different settings.…”