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Telemedicine from a moving ambulance
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Sending or receiving data about a patient, such as medical readings, the patient's journal, or even video to expert doctors from an ambulance can mean the difference between life and death.
The Challenge:
Ambulances operating in remote locations where traditional networks are either unstable, absent or have collapsed (e.g. disaster areas), have the challenge of bringing the patients fast enough to a hospital, where the necessary expertise exist to assist the patient or even save his/her life.
To compensate for vast distances and potentially long travel time to the nearest hospital, the ambulance medical team often need to establish a diagnosis and get expert medical assistance on the way to the hospital. For this, they often rely on a telemedicine solution, but this requires a stable data communications link on the move.
The Solution:
Operating in remote locations or in diasaster areas a satellite communications link is the only way to run a telemedicine application.
The Russian satellite communication company REARM Division jointly with Nera and Tandberg worked out a technical solution, which makes it possible to run a telemedicine application practically in any situation.
For specialised ambulance cars or railway carriages, fitted out with advanced diagnostic equipment, the solution consists of two Nera WorldCommunicator Voyagers together with Tandberg 128K video-conferencing equipment. The Nera WorldCommunicator Voyager enables the transfer of medical data and supports communication between field personnel and the medical professional through voice, text messaging and image transfer, not only while stationary on site, but also from a moving vehicle.
By remotely monitoring the patient’s ECG, blood pressure, pulse, etc., a telemedicine application enables the transfer of a patient’s vital signs to a hospital for analysis, diagnosis and medical advice. This is often the only way of making a diagnosis for the doctor or nurse at a hospital.
Benefit:
This solution enables the ambulance service to send and receive data, such as the patient's journal, medical readings, and perform remote diagnostics via video and the opportunity to receive consultations from the world's best specialists, even when located in remote areas of Russia.
NB. This solution can also be applied together with the Nera F77 on ships.
More about Nera WorldCommunicator Voyager
More about Tandberg videoconferencing
