A school in Knoxville, Tennessee, has installed telemedicine equipment to improve the service the nurse can provide. Here is a news item from WBIR.
Written item and video: New technology lets kids see doctor without leaving school
Thanks to Bob Pyke Jr. for the heads-up on this item.
Audio report on a brainstorming session at Kaiser Permanente’s Innovative Learning Network conference. Worth the six-and-a-half minutes it will take you to listen to it.
Mention of the Nintendo Wii Fit in the report reminds me that we had a news round-up item on this in April: Wiimarkable: Can it evolve into a telehealth device? And I think the answer to that question is becoming clearer: it can, through the games box acting as a hub. It would also reduce the ‘boredom factor’ that must set in if you have to make and report ‘vital signs’ every day.
Wireless Healthcare item looking forward to Wireless and Digital Cities Conference in Barcelona next week. Speakers include Dr Esko Alasaarela, of the University of Oulu; Dr Malcolm Fisk; Professor Roger Orpwood; Ian Laughton and Josep Maria Colomé.
‘Good’ example of a sales letter press release from a company marketing an alarm system that calls the emergency services directly. Only in the US could a company get away with mixing sales and religion on its website as this one does - see the left hand menu.
Local US story from Athens, Georgia featuring, as all best media items do, a technology user. She says: “With this system I don’t feel any better, but I feel a lot safer.” Nicely put. Remote monitoring offers peace of mind.
In response to a recent request from a Florida resident searching for a medication reminder service for her aunt, I did a quick search with Google and came up with the following. What great services did I/Google miss? I’m sure I could I have done better. If you’d like to share your thoughts, leave a comment.
I’d recommend starting by reading this general advice article:
http://www.caregiver.com/channels/medication/articles/medication_reminder_system.htm
Then have a look at the following sites, listed in no particular order. I’d suggest starting with the simplest system that works for your aunt.
http://www.ontimerx.com/buyRegister/oncell.php
http://www.epill.com/voicealert.html
http://www.compumed.com/faq.htm
http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Health/2007/7-06-21-EMMA.htm
http://www.callingcare.com/call-reminders.htm
I notice that most bury the cost away somewhere, so you will have quite a bit of checking out to do.
If you want to do your own internet searches, as well as ‘automated medication reminders’ try the term ‘medicine compliance’.
I see that in the UK, the website Dementia Cafe (”a place for people with dementia, their carers, and professionals to chat, share information, get advice and generally offer support to each other”) has a good pdf ‘catalogue‘ that lists many types and suppliers of medication reminders amongst other useful items. Thanks to another Telecare Aware reader for spotting that.
Exhibitors that provided information to Telecare Aware are listed below. Although the main links to the page have been removed, it is still available here.
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Burnside Telecom |
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Northern Housing Consortium |
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Choose Independence |
| CEEAT - Centre for Enabling Environment & Assistive Technologies / York St John University | |
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Halliday James |
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CareTech, Sweden |
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Just Checking |
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Honeywell - Home Teleheath Limited |
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Tunstall |
Aerotel press release about its forthcoming attendance at the conference in November.
New. British standard of interest to device manufacturers. Here.
ITelecare have posted a helpful item for care commissioners on their site. It is called: 10 Critical Steps You Need to Know for Building a Business Case for Telecare and is also available as a download.
Janet Brown, for the American Speech Language Hearing Association made this comment about its policy on ‘telehealth’, posted on Google Video. It’s good to see that she shows a sensitivity to the uncertainties of the terminology.
What a great way to make policy announcements!
Following earlier successful events* the SIG is planning its next event: Wireless Healthcare - Beyond the technology (3rd July 2008). It will explore the importance of the functional and commercial acceptability of wireless healthcare products and services. It will cover questions such as: How will the end user accept the services/improvements? Which markets could be relied upon to adopt the technology early and hence to ‘pull’ the commercial justification? Are there any lessons to learn from the adoption of technologies in the past?
There are some presentation slots available if you or someone you know would like to share knowledge and experience of the topic. Contact David Cudby: david_living @ btinternet.com
* Presentations from the events can be found here. I’d pick out the ones from BT and Qualcom as worth a scroll through.
Nice local remote health monitoring story from Coshocton, Ohio.
REACH started out as a web-based service providing support to physicians dealing with strokes. “Our general telemedicine module [now] enables a rural ER physician to remotely consult over the Internet with specialists in other hospitals, allowing them to virtually treat any condition—from a skin rash or burn to a broken bone or an aneurism—and everything in between,” said Sandeep Agate, REACH President & CEO. Interesting service not done any favours by poor press release.
London, 16 September, in association with the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine, the Community Therapists Network, the Primary Care Neurology Society and the Telecare Services Association. Early booking discount before 31 July. Download the flyer for details.