Videophones in Health

							  Aboriginal Health
Videophone Network
                   Dr Tori Wade
              Medical Director: VidCo
GP Advisor: Adelaide Western General Practice Network
                     July 2008
        A New Form of Video
          Communication
The personal videophone:
• Compact desktop technology
• High definition screen
• Easy to transport
• Operates over broadband connections
• World wide point-to-point
• Easy to use: works like a normal
  telephone
     Videophone Development
• 3 year developmental period
• 50 Videophone test network, initially undertaken
  through the SA Divisions of General Practice
  Network, now by VidCo
• Trial with Royal District Nursing Service, since
  converted to an ongoing service
• Today, 150 videophone network world wide, with
  70 videophones in SA
• Aboriginal Health installations funded by the
  Variety Club
     Uses of the Videophones
• Health Care Uses: emergency medicine,
  specialist opinion, post-hospital review, mental
  health assessment and treatment, home care
• Educational Uses: staff training, mentoring and
  supervision
• Organisational Uses: executive communication,
  IT network communication
• Community Uses: communicating with family
  members in hospital, or visiting regional centres
         Health Care Uses
• Emergency medicine: retrieval team at the
  RAH, RFDS, SAAS
• Specialist opinion: Adelaide Plastic
  Surgery Associates
• Post-hospital review: WCH burns unit
• Mental health: Eyre Peninsula, RRMHS
• Home care: Royal District Nursing Service
  medication management, aged care
  facilities
    Telemedicine background
• Much enthusiasm and many trials over the
  past 15 years
• However little widespread or high volume
  uptake
• Limiting factors have been high costs,
  technical problems, and lack of assistance
  with new ways of working
• South Australia a world leader in
  videoconferencing for telepsychiatry
    Current Installations in Health
• 8 Aboriginal Health Services
• Royal District Nursing Service of SA
• Adelaide Plastic Surgery Associates (APSA)
• Womens and Childrens Hospital
• General Practices and Aged Care Facilities
• Integrated Cardiovascular Clinical Network
  (ICCnet)
• Private hospital Emergency Departments
• Aged Care (New Jersey, US)
  Future installations in health
• Mental health service delivery to rural
  areas: Eyre Peninsula Division, RRMHS
• Neurology network for treatment of acute
  stroke
• SA Ambulance communication centre
  installation
• Royal Flying Doctor Service on-call
• Rural paediatric nephrology network
   Paediatric registrar program
• New paediatric registrar position in 2009
• Based at Pt Augusta Hospital
• To work in both rural and remote communities,
  and doing followup using the videophone
  network
• Research on the effectiveness of the
  videophone service will be carried out
• Dr Tori Wade commencing a PhD at Adelaide
  University will assist with the research
             Clinical factors
         for videophone uptake
• Build on existing communication and
  collaboration between doctors, other
  health care workers and organisations
• Compatible goals for improved patient
  care
• Increased efficiency and productivity of
  health care
• Leadership support by managers and
  health care workers
              Business factors
           for videophone uptake
•   Cost effectiveness of equipment
    purchase and Video Exchange access
•   Internal business case
    saving travel costs
    increased staff capability due to saving travel time
•   Cost offsets: VOIP access producing
    savings on STD and International
    telecommunications
           Technical Outline
• The videophones run on a broadband
  connection: no need for ISDN lines
• Each videophone has three lines, connected to
  three independent exchanges
• For Dept of Health facilities, we recommend
  installing a separate broadband connection
• High levels of security and privacy can be
  achieved using a security router
Practical videophone installation
• Must have a fast broadband connection; in an
  office setting at least 512K up and down is
  recommended; can be re-set for lower speeds
• Videophones can be configured to work on a
  satellite connection in remote areas
• Should be “plug and play”; will connect to the
  videophone exchange automatically; if any
  problems the Helpdesk will talk you through
• Videocalls, STD and International calls, and
  Helpdesk Service included in the monthly fee
• Minimum time for service: three months in
  advance
    Questions for future development
•   Mental Health Services development
•   Paediatric Registrar program
•   Womens and Childrens hospital
•   Royal Flying Doctor service
•   Specialist medical opinions
•   Educational uses
•   Inter-agency video networking
•   Other uses?