[Health] VideoChat is working now - hooray!

[Sebastian Hilbert]

On Montag 13 Oktober 2008, Paul Heinzelmann wrote:
> I think its very exciting to see telemedicne applications being developed
> for this platform. But I also think you need to be very careful here. 
> There are multiple studies on resolutuion of images and utility for various
> telemedicine purposes. (ie Still images from a 2 megapixel camera are
> likely mimimal for wound care, follow up, etc.)  In that scenario, video at
> 1 or 2 fps wouldnt be very good for assessing wounds. 

It is perfectly fine in my opinion. The patient can be instructed to move very 
slowely and if 1 or 2 high quality images are transferred that is a huge 
benefit for the physician.

> I think Bob is on 
> target when it comes to the value add of video when it comes to doing
> evidence-based telemedicine.
>
> For example, if you are assessing a movement disorder, or trying to assess
> non-verbal cues in a psych patient, this will not be possible at 1-2fps.

True. I would guess that those are not your standard cases which one would 
likely encounter.

> 
> It certainly adds a 'gee whiz" factor to "see" the doctor from the
> patient's perspective, but the value to the doctor in terms of diagnosis
> will be minimal in my opinion.
>
Depends heavily on the case. Doctors are trained to diagnose by talking to 
patients but observing something and comparing it to something one has seen 
before is greatly enhanced by even a few images.


> That being said, the challenge is to find low bandwidth applications that
> make sense for patients and health workers and I think this will be very
> case-specific. Cudos to those seeking to develop them!
>
I tend to agree. If a specific use case pops up from people actually doing the 
work those applications can be greatly optimized.



-- 
Sebastian Hilbert, MD 
Leipzig / Germany
[www.gnumed.de]  -> PGP welcome, HTML ->/dev/null