[Grassroots-l] [Health] VideoChat is working now - hooray!

[Paul Heinzelmann]

I have been involved with provider-to-provider telemedicine projects in
remote areas in Cambodia, Ecuador, the the Congo for the past 7 years.  We
have found huge advantages by focusing on structured history-taking (text)
and highest possible resolution still images...  These have allowed for
asynchronous low-bandwidth communication (important if time zones are
different) and clear images if visual inspection is important (ie skin
rashes, reviewing xrays, wounds, etc).
If you create some compelling case studies for the use of real-time video
chat that has advantages over cell communication , we would certainly like
to look for opportunities to pilot them at our clinical sites in Cambodia.
 Our project leverages Internet access at a hospital and a school in rural
Cambodia, (which is one of hundreds of schools with Internet access -
including a school sponsored by Negroponte!)

Thanks
Paul


On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 9:24 PM, <david at lang.hm> wrote:

> On Mon, 13 Oct 2008, Paul Heinzelmann wrote:
>
>  I sense that there are a lot of new and yet-to-be-discovered ways to use
>> these kind of low-bandwidth capabilities for health (including
>> consultation,
>> collaboration, and education).  The perceived value of these will always
>> be
>> user-dependent and likely require a trial and error approach.
>>
>> In terms of a role for clinical consultation:  The tough sell, in my
>> opinion, is to engage specialists who are expected to diagnose. The more
>> appropriate role for video function may be to simply triage patients and
>> make simple decisions rather than definitively diagnose or assess
>> patients.
>>
>
> the key thing to remember is that in many cases the alternative isn't a
> in-person visit to the specialist, it's going without professional diagnosis
> entirely.
>
> David Lang
>
>
>  Just food for thought. Best wishes
>>
>> Paul
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Oct 13, 2008 at 8:04 PM, Martin Langhoff
>> <martin.langhoff at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>  2008/10/14  <david at lang.hm>:
>>>
>>>> but those are not all cases.
>>>>
>>>
>>> exactly. There's a lot of fun to be had, and a lot to learn with this.
>>> Might be useful in some cases (perhaps growing number of cases, if
>>> connectivity improves over time) and more things become viable.
>>>
>>> For health purposes, it will probably not be useful, except for a tiny
>>> % of cases. If people want health tools, that's a different project.
>>>
>>> Let's refocus that camera on collaboration and education.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> m
>>> --
>>>  martin.langhoff at gmail.com
>>>  martin at laptop.org -- School Server Architect
>>>  - ask interesting questions
>>>  - don't get distracted with shiny stuff  - working code first
>>>  - http://wiki.laptop.org/go/User:Martinlanghoff
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>


-- 
Paul Heinzelmann, MD
Operation Village Health
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