The Role of Cloud Computing within Telehealth

In a Telecare Aware exclusive, Rashed Khan, who holds an MSc in Software Engineering, describes a number of ways that cloud computing is currently used in telehealth applications and looks forward to the future.

Cloud computing has had, and will continue to have, a revolutionary effect on telehealth. In fact, medical professionals are already using cloud computing in its most basic form quite effectively. More advanced telehealth applications of cloud computing are emerging and others will surely follow.

Cloud computing is essentially the use of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store and manage data, rather than a local server or PC. For example, if you contact your family via a webcam, you're using cloud computing. Your computer is accessing software stored on a remote server. That software connects your video and audio stream to your family's computer and their data to yours. That enables you to see and speak with them in real time. If you happen to be a psychiatrist and the person you're watching and listening to is your patient, that's telehealth.

Telepsychiatry was among the first medical fields to enjoy the benefits of cloud computing. Because a psychiatrist doesn't need to physically examine the patient, everything that a psychiatrist would normally do during a counselling session can be accomplished via video-conferencing. Additionally, it saves the patient travel time and expense and eliminates the carbon footprint of the visits to their mental health professional.

Primary care physicians are also using web-based cloud computing in another basic form. Some doctors and hospitals allow their patients to view their medical records, contact their physicians, monitor their prescriptions and schedule appointments from their home computers. The patient logs into the account and uses the hospital's software to receive their data.

Emergency room physicians are making more advanced use of cloud computing. Via video-conferencing, they can see the patient before emergency personnel arrive. When medical help is on-site, the doctor can assist with triage at the location or on the way to the hospital. The physician can then make the necessary arrangements to prepare for the patient's arrival.

On the far side of cloud-computing, real-time devices like tele-EEG can transmit data to remote locations for instant analysis. Data can be stored and forwarded to several sites at once or accumulated for further analysis at a later time. Home-based night-time dialysis could be controlled from the hospital, saving the patient numerous trips to the hospital.

Surgeons are also using cloud computing to remotely control robotic surgery. With improvements in video-conferencing technologies, this form of remote surgery will become more commonplace worldwide. World-class surgeons will be able to offer their services to patients around the globe.

Cloud computing is also perfectly suited to the administrative tasks of a health centre. Patient admission, scheduling and monitoring can all be performed remotely. Healthcare management and patient education are also effectively handled by the hospital's cloud system, giving more complete care to the patient between visits.

Telehealth and cloud computing have grown considerably, together and apart. Advances in computer speed and processing power, better software and new hardware will seamlessly integrate the two forever. Each discipline will be the better for the marriage of technical convenience.

Rashed Khan
Rashed enjoys blogging about telehealth, video conferencing and its related technologies.
27 September 2011