The Scottish Centre for Telehealth was set up to promote the development of remote health care. They've used desktop video conferencing for contact between Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and 15 community hospitals for the last 7 years but are now running the first trial in the world of Cisco's HealthPresence system. HealthPresence is a specialized adaptation of Cisco's high-end Telepresence system outfitted with medical diagnostic equipement and configured in a self-contained pod.
Nurses at community hospitals typically call up for a second opinion and the HealthPresence system saves a large number of patients the round trip to Aberdeen. In fact one doctor believes up to 90% of patients presenting out of hours could safely assessed using the HealthPresence pod.
Being able to see patients clearly enables clinical fellow Dr. Karyn Webster to interact and pick up on a patient's mannerisms and she feels very comfortable diagnosing patients using the system. Her colleague also claims that patients really like it because the High Definition video is really clear and lifesize so they feel as if they're in the same room as the doctor.
In an economic climate where resources are increasingly scarce can Cisco's HealthPresence herald a revolution in healthcare?
[Learn more in the video below. You can also watch a video demonstrating how a future version of the pod may look].
Video below
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