International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications最新文献

Objectives: The study is aimed at evaluating knowledge, attitude, and barriers to telemedicine among the general population in Egypt.

Methods: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional design was carried out among the general Egyptian population. A convenience sampling method was used to approach the eligible participants from University Teaching Hospitals of eight governorates from May to July 2020.

Results: A total of 686 participants filled the questionnaire (49.4% were males, mean age 36.7 ± 11.2 years old). Half of the participants stated that they previously used a telemedicine tool, mainly to follow up laboratory results (67.3%). Video or phone calls (39.3%) and mobile applications (23.7%) were the most commonly recognized telemedicine tools by the participants. The included participants exhibited a high level of knowledge and attitude towards telemedicine. On the other hand, 21.9% stated that telemedicine services could jeopardize patient privacy. 32.8% reported that telemedicine service could lead to disclosing medical information to people who are not authorized to do so. Almost half of the participants agreed to strongly agreed that telemedicine service could increase medical errors. 60.80% of the participants said that they are more likely to prefer telemedicine than traditional ways. However, 13.70% stated that telemedicine is more likely to be challenging to use.

Conclusion: The Egyptian population has high knowledge about the applications of telemedicine. In addition, the vast majority of Egyptians appear to perceive the benefits of telemedicine positively and are willing to use it. However, some barriers that have been found must be taken into consideration to adopt telemedicine successfully, especially for people who are old, are low educated, and live in remote areas. Future studies should address the utility of telemedicine in improving the quality of healthcare and patient's health outcome and quality of life.

Teleophthalmology (TO) consists of the clinical and therapeutic approach to the patient (e-Health) using informatic and telecommunication systems. Already widespread worldwide, it aims to improve patient care, expand the healthcare offer, and access to medical care by reducing overall costs. Despite the organizational, legal, and management difficulties, the substantial economic investments necessary for the start-up of equipped structures and efficient territorial services are amply rewarded by economic results and optimal services for professionals and patients. This review specifically analyses the current scenario of teleophthalmology, the points for and against its application in different sociodemographic realities, and in particular, the current and future fields of use.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth analysis of the components and outcomes of telehealth interventions for family caregivers of individuals with chronic health conditions.

Methods: A systematic review of 17 databases was conducted for randomized controlled trials published between January 2002 and January 2017. Interventions were analyzed based on type of telecommunication modality, caregiver and care recipient characteristics, intervention components, and caregiver outcomes.

Results: A total of 57 articles met criteria for inclusion. Telephone was the most frequently used mode of telehealth delivery and focused primarily on caregivers of older adults with dementia and stroke. Skills training was the most prevalent treatment strategy across telephone, web, and combined telephone and web modalities. Improved psychological functioning was reported most frequently across telehealth modalities.

Conclusion: Telehealth is an effective tool in delivering caregiver interventions and leads to significant improvement in caregiver outcomes. Telephone was used most often to deliver cognitive-behavioral and psychoeducational strategies as compared to web and combined telephone and web modalities. Further research is needed to examine the effects of telehealth interventions on caregiving skills and self-efficacy, as well as health outcomes.

We surveyed three well-established store-and-forward telemedicine networks to identify any changes during the first half of 2020, which might have been due to the effect of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic on their telemedicine operations. The three networks all used the Collegium Telemedicus system. Various quantitative performance indicators, which included the numbers of referrals and the case-mix, were compared with their values in previous years. Two of the three networks surveyed (A and B) provided telemedicine services for any type of medical or surgical case, while the third (network C) handled only pediatric radiology cases. All networks operated in Africa, but networks A and C also provided services in other resource-constrained regions. Two of the networks (networks B and C) used local staff to submit referrals, while network A relied mainly on its expatriate staff. During the first half of 2020, the numbers of referrals received on network B increased substantially, while in contrast, the numbers of referrals on network A declined. All three networks had relatively stable referral rates during 2018 and 2019. All three networks delivered a service that was rated highly by the referrers. One network operated at relatively high efficiency compared to the other two, although it is not known if this is sustainable. The networks which were more reliant on local referrers saw little reduction-or even an increase-in submitted cases, while the network that had the most dependence on international staff saw a big fall in submitted cases. This was probably due to the effect of international travel restrictions on the deployment of its staff. We conclude that organizations wanting to build or expand their telemedicine services should consider deliberately empowering local providers as their referrers.

Introduction: Mobile health (mHealth) applications gain popularity due to the increasing number of mobile phone usage and internet penetration, which might help some of Indonesia's medical issues. However, the uptake of mHealth applications is still low in Indonesia. This study is aimed at understanding the factors that drive individuals to adopt mHealth applications and their impact on the intention to recommend.

Methods: We applied a new model that combines three different theories with some other constructs: an extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, diffusion of innovation, and the internet customer trust model. The study used a cross-sectional study design with partial least squares causal modeling approach.

Results: There are 787 respondents in our study, with the majority of them being female, young adults. Our model could explain 53.2% of the variance of intention to adopt while explaining 48.3% of the variance of intention to recommend. Initial trust in mHealth platform (β = 0.373, p = <0.001), facilitating conditions (β = 0.131, p = <0.01), and performance expectancy (β = 0.099, p = <0.05) are the top three most important drivers of intention to adopt mHealth applications. Lastly, importance-performance map analysis (IPMA) showed that the mHealth application's initial trust is the most important construct with a high-performance score. Discussion. Mobile health developers and managers need to improve initial trust in the mHealth platform, facilitating conditions, and performance expectancy when developing the applications. With a medium Q ² _predict, these factors can be applied out of the research context with medium predictive power.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to pilot a home-based pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program administered via a telemedicine approach using a combination of fitness application and self-selected activity in lung transplant candidates with cystic fibrosis (CF).

Methods: We recruited adult patients with CF. The main outcome was adherence, measured by number of sessions completed in 12 weeks. Secondary outcomes were adverse events, six-minute walk distance (6MWD), and dyspnea. Participants were provided a personalized exercise program and equipment including a fitness application that provided exercise videos, recorded exercise time, and corresponding heart rate. We reviewed data daily and provided text messages with feedback. We compared our study outcomes to a retrospective data set of CF patients who participated in a 24-session outpatient hospital-based PR program. Data presented as mean ± standard deviation.

Results: Eleven patients participated in the home PR program, 45% female, age 33 ± 7 years, FEV1 27 ± 5% predicted. Sessions completed were 19 ± 12 home-based PR vs. 9 ± 4 hospital-based PR, p = .03. Fifty percent of the home-based group completed ≥24 sessions in 12 weeks versus 0% of the hospital-based patients (p = .03). There were no adverse events during exercise. Completers of the home-based program demonstrated a clinically meaningful lower decline in 6 MWD than noncompleters (6MWD -7 ± 15 vs. -86 ± 108 meters). Only one participant performed a post 6 MWD in the hospital-based PR.

Conclusion: Patients with severe CF demonstrated adherence to home PR delivered using fitness application and self-selected activity with no adverse events. This program style may be a viable solution for telerehabilitation in severe CF and is particularly relevant in the COVID era.

The recent spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its associated coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused widespread public health concerns. Despite huge efforts to contain the disease spread, it is still on the rise because of the community spread pattern of this infection. In order to prevent the community spread, a nationwide lockdown was implemented, due to which many restrictions were imposed on movements of citizens within the country. Since the dental professionals were at the forefront of acquiring the infection, the majority of the dental clinics were shut for routine dental procedures. Only emergency treatment was provided to the patients. However, due to restrictions in movement, it was difficult for the patients to visit the clinics for routine check-ups. This was overcome by the advancements in technology which has a major impact on medicine. Due to increased usage of smartphones and related software applications, the clinical data exchange was facilitated between patients and clinicians which has been termed as "teledentistry." Teledentistry is a combination of telecommunications and dentistry, involving the exchange of clinical information and images for dental consultation and treatment planning. This technology served as a boon for the dentists to manage dental emergencies during the lockdown period. This narrative review discusses teledentistry and its applications in general and specialty dental practice amidst the COVID-19 lockdown.

The objective of this study was to design the screens of a future gamified mobile application for self-management of type 1 diabetes in children based on the opinion of caregivers at the King Fahad Hospital Diabetes Center, Saudi Arabia. To achieve this objective, a questionnaire was designed and distributed among 100 caregivers through face-to-face communication and social media using a Google Forms link. 65% of the participants met the inclusion criteria. The main result of this study was the design of 13 screens of a gamified application for self-management of type 1 diabetes in children from Saudi Arabia. The key features of the screens were caring for a character; using a challenging friend; inclusion of points, level, and leaderboard as rewarding principles; use of reminders and notifications for doctor's appointments, insulin injection times, blood glucose readings; and tips for improving medication adherence, increasing blood glucose readings, supporting physical activities, and adopting healthy eating habits. It can be concluded that the practical implementation of the screens in a future mobile application can motivate children with type 1 diabetes to improve eating habits, physical exercise, and cognitive, emotional, and social behaviors to maintain a stable state of health. Also, the content of the designed screens can help to monitor blood glucose readings and comply with medication treatment. The designed screens are adapted to the Arab culture.

Background: The implementation of medical digital technologies can provide better accessibility and flexibility of healthcare for the public. It encompasses the availability of open information on the health, treatment, complications, and recent progress on biomedical research. At present, even in low-income countries, diagnostic and medical services are becoming more accessible and available. However, many issues related to digital health technologies remain unmet, including the reliability, safety, testing, and ethical aspects.

Purpose: The aim of the review is to discuss and analyze the recent progress on the application of big data, artificial intelligence, telemedicine, block-chain platforms, smart devices in healthcare, and medical education. Basic Design. The publication search was carried out using Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Sciences, Medline, Wiley Online Library, and CrossRef databases. The review highlights the applications of artificial intelligence, "big data," telemedicine and block-chain technologies, and smart devices (internet of things) for solving the real problems in healthcare and medical education. Major Findings. We identified 252 papers related to the digital health area. However, the number of papers discussed in the review was limited to 152 due to the exclusion criteria. The literature search demonstrated that digital health technologies became highly sought due to recent pandemics, including COVID-19. The disastrous dissemination of COVID-19 through all continents triggered the need for fast and effective solutions to localize, manage, and treat the viral infection. In this regard, the use of telemedicine and other e-health technologies might help to lessen the pressure on healthcare systems. Summary. Digital platforms can help optimize diagnosis, consulting, and treatment of patients. However, due to the lack of official regulations and recommendations, the stakeholders, including private and governmental organizations, are facing the problem with adequate validation and approbation of novel digital health technologies. In this regard, proper scientific research is required before a digital product is deployed for the healthcare sector.