A remote medical care system will not only enable patients to receive medical attention without traveling long distances, saving time and money, but also allow hospitals to collect a wide array of patient information through the system, an executive at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) said yesterday.
At a seminar on remote health care applications and technology standardization, Shau Yio-wha (邵耀華), director of ITRI’s Medical Electronics and Device Technology Center, said that when patients seek medical help in hospital, about 45 percent of their time is spent getting medical checks and waiting for doctors to complete medical records.
However, if patients could send their medical records to hospitals before receiving medical care through a long distance care system, a lot of time can be saved.
Such a system would also help improve outpatient registration accuracy, Shau said.
The value of long distance home medical care not only lies in the costs savings, but in improving the quality of medical care for patients, particularly those with chronic illnesses who need long-term care, Shau said.
Lyn McFarlane, general manager of business operations of UK-based Tunstall, a leading provider of telecare and telehealth solutions, told the seminar that using a remote healthcare system could help boost patients’ self-confidence, increase their peace of mind and promote greater patient self-management.
For example, McFarlane said that Tunstall used a telehealth system to monitor 30 high-risk patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in their own homes in the city of Sheffield in northern England.
Five months later, results showed that telecare in the patients’ homes helped reduce their rate of hospital visits by 50 percent and the number of home visits by medical personnel by 80 percent.
The system was estimated to have saved £1.2 million (US$1.9 million) in medical costs a year for local hospitals, McFarlane said.
Over the past three years, a number of companies in Taiwan have ventured into the telecare arena, but the pace of development of this type of service is still slow, McFarlane said.
She urged Taiwan’s government to pioneer a trial system and conduct related evaluation for the launch of remote medical care services.
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