Telemedicine is the transmission of medical information from one site to another via electronic communications. This remarkable technology can make medical services more equitable and can reduce medical costs by allocating health care resources more e ...
Telemedicine is the transmission of medical information from one site to another via electronic communications. This remarkable technology can make medical services more equitable and can reduce medical costs by allocating health care resources more efficiently. Implementing telemedicine requires certain technical factors, such as high bandwidth to send medical information remotely; however, it also requires an appropriate organizational and legal environment. The United States and several other industrialized countries have already begun to adopt telemedicine in clinical settings. However, in Korea, university hospitals and research centers are still testing the feasibility of this technology.
The ISIS center at Georgetown University in the United States has developed MyCare System, a web-based, interactive diabetes management application. It allows diabetics to transmit their blood glucose data from glucose meters into a secured database, and enables them, as well as their healthcare providers, to access that data through an Internet web browser. The system also automatically generates blood pressure glucose reports that help patients and their care providers manage disease effectively. This study applied the MyCare system to real clinical settings and discovered several areas for the adoption of improvement in telemedicine.
First, from a technical perspective, telemedicine systems must be able to integrate data from diverse medical devices. Additionally, the speed of bandwidth is still an issue to transmit the data remotely. Second, from a patient’s perspective, these systems must be affordable, since many diabetes patients are low income and have limited to access to the Internet; moreover, the systems must be user-friendly, because many diabetes patients are uncomfortable with computers. Third, from an organizational perspective, there is a need for more dedicated experts in telemedicine, because the nurses who currently operate telemedicine systems in hospitals are overburdened, and their profession experiences frequent turnover. Finally, from a public policy perspective, reimbursement for telemedicine expenses should be expanded, so that the technology can be adopted more aggressively.