UK Government Health Minister Lord Darzi (who recently produced High quality care for all on the future shape of the NHS -comment with link to the report) is shown in this video endorsing the move towards remote patient monitoring, using a heart patient and a person with COPD as examples.
4mins 46 seconds video features services at Southampton and Nottingham.
The US-based Guardian Alert 911 takes the panic alarm principle and cuts out the call centre, connecting owners directly to the emergency services. Taking this approach there’s an immediate saving for users as there are no monthly fees.
BBC News report from West Bromwich, UK, on an ordinary Victorian house that has been converted to accommodate almost every electronically controlled device you can think of, linked to a system that responds to the owner’s movements. This does deserve to be called a ’smart home’ unlike those that are just ‘telecare enabled’. (See Soapbox item: Telecare ‘Smart Homes’ Nowhere Near Smart Enough.)
Article and associated video (TV news item) showing the WebVNU Remote Nurse[annoying pre-video advert alert] in action as deployed by the VNA Care Network in Massachusetts.
Not telecare directly, but an excellent new website for older people which incorporates just about all the good advice on avoiding falling… funded by Philips Lifeline in the US. It includes a video on how to get up if you fall. Visit www.learnnottofall.com. Who will you recommend it to?
[OK - so how about saving all the millions being spent on ‘falls prevention’ projects and activities and use it to provide people with a cheap computer and broadband so they can access material like this and all the rest of the life saving and life changing information and networking that is now available to those who can afford it?]
Following my passing comment about Google Health last week, I thought you might be interested to watch this 50 minute video of Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt addressing the HIMSS conference in February. Amongst other interesting things, he points out how slowly doctors are realising what impact the internet is having - and will have - on healthcare delivery, and what Google is trying to do about it. (Google also likes the ‘predict and prevent’ approach.)
The video includes a demo of Google Health and its potential for linking to other systems. I predict that remote health monitoring companies that get in early to link their health monitoring systems are going to have a huge advantage.
The Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) describes itself as “leading the charge to expedite the development, evaluation and adoption of emerging technologies that will transform the aging experience.”
CAST has four focus areas:
driving a global vision of how technologies can improve the quality of life for seniors while reducing health care costs
accelerating technology research and development through pilot evaluations with seniors
advocating to remove barriers to the rapid commercialization of proven solutions
promoting dialogue about standards to ensure interoperability and widespread access to aging-services technologies
You will need to visit the CAST web page to view their videos, but it is worth the time as the main one is very well produced and presented. They also have a discussion document.
Sceptical about the potential of robots to deliver in-home care and eventually replace static telecare systems? You might not be so sure after reading this article and viewing this video.
With a bit of editing and a slightly revamped commentary this video could become a useful introduction to telecare and telehealth for the public. However, people who know me will anticipate that I have a huge problem with Norfolk’s conflation of ‘assistive technology’ with telecare and telehealth, hence I’ve also categorised the video under ‘terminology’.
Let’s get this straight: ‘assistive technology’ is a very broad term for any equipment that helps compensate for some form of functional impairment. Or, as the Foundation for Assistive Technology (FAST) defines it, “Assistive Technology (AT) is any product or service designed to enable independence for disabled and older people.” A few shots at the beginning of the video imply that they understand this, but it soon slips into referring to the telecare and telehealth as AT. Although can be regarded as a subset of AT, there is no implication that AT has a remote component in any way, which is the key defining characteristic of telecare, telehealth, telemedicine, etc. When I was contracted to work at the Department of Health I frequently reminded civil servants and Ministers not to refer to telecare as ‘assistive technology’ and I thought that eventually the message did get through. At least by the time the Preventative Technology Grant conditions were published. And now it raises its head again…
OK, rant over! My thanks to Saneth Wijayaratna of Telemedcare Ltd for alerting me to the 7 minute video.
Take 30 minutes out to watch this presentation by Margaret Cary, Senior VP for Vox Medica in 2001. It not only has interesting content from the telehealth perspective - it’s not about the technology, which is just part of the care delivery process - its a good example of a visually-oriented presentation, although her text slides, when the do come, could have done with greater contrast.
Watch this 6½ minute video of US Senator for South Dakota John Thune advocating (successfully) an increase in funding for telehealth in October 2007. It is interesting to observe his superordinate use of the term ‘telehealth’, with ‘telemedicine’ sometimes seeming to be used interchangeably, and sometimes subordinately to it when contrasted with ‘telehomecare”.
I’m grateful to Marnee Brick, a speech therapist, for spotting this video. As an ex-speech and language therapist I am delighted to see that she is promoting online therapy. See her site: TinyEYE.
However, I do have a problem with her construction of online speech therapy under ‘telehealth’ in her blog. As I’ve mentioned previously, the terminology issue here is not with ‘tele’. It’s what comes after: is speech therapy is a health or an education-related discipline - or something else? This was a debate going on in the UK from at least the ’60s. She also uses the term ‘telespeech’ and ‘telepractice’.
Related to the above, BBC TV ran a telecare item. Here is the link to a page which gives you a choice of players for the video. I was only able to get sound by using the RealPlayer option.
First time this Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is being used in this context the UK, I think. See the press release for an overview, the WELbeing (Wealden and Eastbourne Lifeline) website for an EXCELLENT video (link now also in the Video Library) and the Over-C website for more on the technical stuff.
Also, search Telecare Aware for ‘Hippocad’ for notes in April of this technology in use in France.
An interesting product positioned half-way conceptually between Alertacall’s Safety Confirmation Service and a full-blown call center service. A product for fairly independent people and, as noted in Telecare Aware last March, being sold through the Winn-Dixie supermarket chain in the US as well as directly by LogicMark. Visit this website link to view a Guardian Alert 911 video. (Also in the Video Library)
