3 Improving Emergency


and Disaster Response Mobile telemedicine can also play a key role in emergency response. In the past, paramedics at the scene of a major accident had limited access to cardiologists and emergency department physicians. Since ambulances were not equipped with mobile fax machines, paramedics did not have the capability to fax a copy of an EKG to the on-call cardiologist at the hospital.


Today, these paramedics can send real-time videos and


wireless EKG tracings and other vital sign measurements to hospital physicians, who can then guide patient care. Mobile technology also allows hospital physicians to monitor patients en route to the hospital while paramedics send patient information from the ambulance.


Meanwhile, physicians working in disaster relief


settings—as well as volunteers or others assisting in patient evaluation and triage—are now relying heavily on mobile technologies such as smartphones with video cameras to communicate with specialists or other off-site healthcare professionals.


Dr. Enoch Choi, an urgent care physician at Palo Alto


(Calif.) Medical Foundation and medical director of Jordan International Aid, a California-based Christian aid organization, provided medical relief in Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake. He explained how mobile phones were used in a disaster relief setting: “SMS (text) and access to the Internet helped us email to coordinate with those at the shelters what they needed and where we could help.”


Reaching Out Globally and Rurally The spread of mobile telemedicine is also changing rural


healthcare. Let’s say the on-call physician in the above example tells the mother to admit her child. Once they arrive at the hospital, the physician can take additional photos of the rash and send the images to a dermatologist for immediate diagnostic information.


In the near future, nearly all phone calls will incorporate


video chat. As physicians and patients become more comfortable with mobile technology, they will both find opportunities to leverage real-time multimedia to enhance patient encounters. Here the dermatologist and physician could conduct a video chat so that the dermatologist can observe the young patient from afar.


Thinking globally, the mobile health industry is actively pursuing opportunities to bring healthcare to developing nations. Two factors motivate this push—a mobile phone


is much more affordable than a laptop in many developing countries, and the majority of developing countries have the wireless network infrastructure to support these mobile devices. Locals in rural areas can therefore gain easy access to remote healthcare.


ClickMedix, a global mobile health social enterprise founded by faculty and students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon University, aims to use mobile phones to address global healthcare challenges related to lack of access, lack of funds, and lack of medical resources. To that end, Qualcomm Inc. and Mobinil, Egypt's largest mobile service provider recently announced a pilot program that will use 3G mobile broadband to remotely diagnose patients with skin conditions.


As we witness exciting transformations within the


mobile health industry, we are seeing a growing number of mobile telemedicine applications that remove the barriers associated with diagnosing and treating remote patients. As physicians embrace mobile technology and recognize the power of utilizing this in clinical practice, they will find ways to improve remote patient care.


Have You Outgrown Your WAN?


Explore Your Options with a


Cisco WAAS Proof of Concept As applications become more centralized and users more distributed, Wide Area Network (WAN) performance limitations such as limited bandwidth, longer latency, and packet loss are becoming more apparent. Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) Proof of Concept (POC) provides a simple and efficient way to design the perfect Cisco WAAS solution. We tailor this technology to fit your specific needs, ensuring that you have flexible, powerful networking options.


Contact your Account Manager to schedule a Cisco WAAS Proof of Concept today.


1.800.395.8685


CONNECTION


VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 4


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36