pulseitmagazine.com.au
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Feature
Remote monitoring and consultation through your TV
Last year, Medtech Global aquired the rights to a video conferencing and remote monitoring system that allows the patient to see their doctor through their television. It also allows third parties such as specialists to join in the consultation. Aimed at chronic disease management, the system is also being tried out in a Melbourne aged care facility.
Kate McDonald Journalist: Pulse+IT kate.mcdonald@pulseitmagazine.com.au
Video conferencing for healthcare is such an obvious benefit in a country as large as Australia that the federal government has introduced an MBS rebate for specialists offering the service to areas of need. One area of need is aged care, where despite round the clock nursing care, it is often difficult to find doctors willing to attend a nursing home both during and after business hours. To get a specialist to visit a nursing home is nigh on impossible, so video conferencing makes a lot of sense. However, the aged care sector has historically been reluctant to invest in the technology for a number of reasons. Cost is the main one, but the dearth of specialists willing to use the technology is another. And with no substantive incentives for GPs, they too have yet to really embrace the potential. One GP who is happy to take the plunge is Dr Igor Jakubowicz, who regularly provides medical care to the residents of the Martin Luther Homes aged care facility in The Basin in outer suburban Melbourne. He has joined with software provider Medtech Global to run a trial of its new VitelMed telehealth system, which has a few added extras besides two-way video conferencing. Although this trial is taking place at a nursing home, the real potential
of the system is in keeping patients in their own homes for longer. One component of the VitelMed system is a set-top box that people in the home simply attach to their television, through which they can see and interact with their doctor. The doctor and specialist use a PC‑based program to consult while using their electronic medical record system to record the consulting notes and collect data from the remote medical device connected to the set-top box. The VitelMed system also allows the doctor to remotely control the camera at the patient end with pan-tilt-zoom capability. A call log displays all call activities, with incoming calls, calls during absence and dialled calls clearly marked with distinctive colours. The call log menu is easily accessible by the patient and the doctor through a simple remote control with four navigation keys. As soon as the patient receives a new message, the VitelMed unit will continuously flash until the patient opens the menu and the new message will pop up. This tool is often used as a reminder or alert function. A unique feature of the system is the single RED button which, when pressed by