Telemedicine Commons^™

Dr. Tele-Corporation: Bridging The Access-To-Care Gap, Nader Amer

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The United States is currently confronting an access-to-healthcare crisis, which rural regions are experiencing at a disproportionate rate. Many commentators have touted telemedicine as a solution for the access-to-care issue. Telemedicine uses video and telecommunication technology to allow physicians to treat patients from distant locations and thus facilitates a more equal distribution of physicians throughout the United States.

Although the telemedicine industry is quickly growing, the corporate practice of medicine doctrine impedes the industry’s expansion and consequently obstructs a viable solution to the access-to-care crisis. Generally, the corporate practice of medicine doctrine prohibits corporations and limited liability companies from employing …

Mobile Technology Use And Mhealth Text Message Preferences: An Examination Of Gender, Racial, And Ethnic Differences Among Emerging Adult College Students, Kristin E. Heron, Kelly A. Romano, Abby L. Braitman

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: Mobile health (mHealth) interventions are a potentially feasible way of targeting emerging adult college students' physical and mental health concerns, decreasing health-risk, and augmenting health promoting behaviors. However, there is limited evidence attesting to advantageous ways of designing mHealth treatments in a manner that is apt to be well-received by emerging adult college students at large, and gender, racial, and ethnic subgroups in particular. To address these research gaps, this exploratory study examined general trends, and gender (male, female), racial (White, Black), and ethnic (Latino, non-Latino) differences, in emerging adult college students' mobile technology ownership and phone plan characteristics, …

A Multi-Level Assessment Of Healthcare Facilities Readiness, Willingness, And Ability To Adopt And Sustain Telehealth Services, Jamie Larson

Theses & Dissertations

Telehealth technologies are becoming more pervasive throughout the healthcare system as a way to provide services to patients that would otherwise have difficulty with access. Currently, little is known about the current state of telehealth use within clinics and hospital in the US. Most studies evaluating telehealth programs are feasibility or small patient outcome studies from one location. Utilizing a hybrid framework combining the levels of complex socio-technical systems with the theory of ready, willing and able. The theory of ready, willing, and able is founded on the basis that these three preconditions need to be met for a change …

Surgical And Medical Applications Of Drones: A Comprehensive Review, James C. Rosser, Vudatha Vignesh, Brent A. Terwilliger, Brett C. Parker

Publications

Background: Drones have the ability to gather real time data cost effectively, to deliver payloads and have initiated the rapid evolution of many industrial, commercial, and recreational applications. Unfortunately, there has been a slower expansion in the field of medicine. This article provides a comprehensive review of current and future drone applications in medicine, in hopes of empowering and inspiring more aggressive investigation. Database: A literature search was performed by EBSCO (Elton B. Stephens Company) Discovery Service, searching the phrases "drones," "UAV," "unmanned aerial vehicles," "UAS," and "unmanned aerial systems." A second search was used to identify sources that contained …

Surgical And Medical Applications Of Drones: A Comprehensive Review, Brent Terwilliger, James C. Rosser Jr., Vudatha Vignesh, Brett C. Parker

Publications

Drones have the ability to gather real time data cost effectively, to deliver payloads and have initiated the rapid evolution of many industrial, commercial, and recreational applications. Unfortunately, there has been a slower expansion in the field of medicine. This article provides a comprehensive review of current and future drone applications in medicine, in hopes of empowering and inspiring more aggressive investigation.

Assessing Psychophysiological Effects Of Malodorous Pollutants In Residents Of Leandrinho, Bahia, Brazil: A Pilot Study Using A Whatsapp-Based Questionnaire, Shanell Folger, Courtney Woods, Rita Franco Rego, Carlos Henrique Amaral, Washington Ramos, Amanda Northcross

GW Research Days 2016 - 2020

Background: Leandrinho is located in the region that is home to the largest industrial chemical complex in the southern hemisphere that covers approximately 49 km². Leandrinho residents have reported experiencing adverse health effects that co-occur during periods of malodor emitted by the petrochemical industry. However, there is currently no tool for the residents to systematically record incidents of malodor. This pilot study assessed the feasibility of using a questionnaire designed through Whatsapp, a text-messaging application commonly used among residents.

Method: Leandrinho residents were randomly recruited to complete a daily questionnaire using either paper (n=24) or Whatsapp (n=24) over …

Mapping Opioid Mortality Rates Across Treatment Capacity To Identify Need And Access, Garrett K. Wong, Justin R. Chang, Chase Greco, Yadunandan Pillai, Mohammad A. Shahrezaei, Melissa H. Burton, Rob Lawrence, Alan Dow

Graduate Research Posters

Background: The opioid and heroin overdose epidemic is a public health emergency in the state of Virginia, resulting in the death of more than 1,100 people in 2016. In order to overcome this epidemic, we need to match the places with the greatest need for services related to substance use disorders with the appropriate healthcare workforce.

Aims: As the data about the overdose outbreak and related socioeconomic factors grow in size and complexity, data scientists have attempted to utilize big data techniques to identify communities and risk factors contributing to addiction.

Methods: Using data obtained from the …

A Systematic Review On The Validity Of Teledentistry, Jafar H. Alabdullah, Susan J. Daniel

Dental Hygiene Faculty Publications

Objectives: The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the validity of using teledentistry in oral care examination and diagnosis.

Methods: In June 2016, a systematic search of the literature was conducted without time restrictions in three electronic databases (Ebscohost, Pubmed, and Scopus). Two reviewers screened the retrieved articles first by title and then by abstract to determine relevant articles for full text review. Studies included were as follows: (1) related to teledentistry, (2) available in full text and English, (3) compared teledentistry application to a gold standard, and (4) provided clear statistical tests for validity. The methodological …

Health Systems Readiness For Adopting Mhealth Interventions For Addressing Non-Communicable Diseases In Low- And Middle-Income Countries: A Current Debate, Anam Shahil Feroz, Muhammad Masood Kadir, Sarah Saleem

Community Health Sciences

In low-and-middle-income countries, epidemiologic transition is taking place very rapidly from communicable diseases to non-communicable diseases. NCDs mortality rates are increasing faster and nearly 80% of NCDs deaths occur in LMICs. Existing weak health systems of LMICs are undergoing a devastating human and economic toll as a result of increasing treatment costs and losses to productivity from NCDs. At the same time, the increasing penetration of mobile phone technology and the spread of cellular network and infrastructure have led to the introduction of the mHealth field. While mHealth field offers a great promise to prevent and control non-communicable diseases in …

Mhealth Intervention Is Effective In Creating Smoke-Free Homes For Newborns: A Randomized Controlled Trial Study In China., Shaohua Yu, Zongshuan Duan, Pamela B Redmon, Michael P Eriksen, Jeffrey P Koplan, Cheng Huang

Global Health Faculty Publications

Mobile-phone-based smoking cessation intervention has been shown to increase quitting among smokers. However, such intervention has not yet been applied to secondhand smoke (SHS) reduction programs that target smoking parents of newborns. This randomized controlled trial, undertaken in Changchun, China, assessed whether interventions that incorporate traditional and mobile-phone-based education will help create smoke-free homes for infants and increase quitting among fathers. The results showed that the abstinence rates of the fathers at 6 months (adjusted OR: 3.60, 95% CI: 1.41-9.25; p = 0.008) and 12 months (adjusted OR: 2.93, 95% CI: 1.24-6.94; p = 0.014) were both significantly increased in …

Health Informatics Solution To Indoor Air Pollution: An Opportunity For Epidemiological Research, Rhys Fay Min Chua

Master's Projects and Capstones

Indoor air pollution accounts for the particulate matters and chemical compounds from outdoor sources that penetrate into the home environment. It also contains chemical particles from cleaning products, wall paints, personal care products, indoor combustion, and microbial agents. Mounting evidence links sources from indoor air pollution to sick building syndrome (SBS). SBS decreases human productivity, impacts learning abilities, and has the potential to trigger existing asthmatic symptoms, cause dizziness, nausea, fatigue, irritation to the lungs, etc. To improve the management of IAQ among population health and for environmental health to keep up with its technological counterpart, it is crucial to …

The Living The Example Social Media Substance Use Prevention Program: A Pilot Evaluation., William Evans, Elizabeth Andrade, Sandra Goldmeer, Michelle Smith, Jeremy Snider, Gunilla Girardo

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

Reproduced with permission of JMIR Publications. JMIR Mental Health

Prenatal Care Enhanced With Digital Health Tools Can Reduce Visit Frequency While Improving Patient Satisfaction, Kathryn I. Marko, Nihar Ganju, Anish Sebastian, Joshua Benham

Medicine Faculty Posters and Presentations

100 low-risk obstetric patients were enrolled to evaluate the use of digital health technology in prenatal care. 50 patients were placed on an alternate prenatal care schedule (8 visits), supplemented with an integrated technology platform of a mobile application and connected devices including a wireless weight scale and blood pressure cuff. The remaining 50 control patients received routine care, without the technology platform. Patients were evaluated for satisfaction and engagement throughout pregnancy.

Design And Feasibility Of A Text Messaging Intervention To Prevent Indoor Tanning Among Young Adult Women: A Pilot Study, William Douglas Evans, Darren Mays

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

Background: Although skin cancer is largely preventable, it affects nearly 1 of 5 US adults. There is a need for research on how to optimally design persuasive public health indoor tanning prevention messages.

Objective: The objective of our study was to examine whether framed messages on indoor tanning behavioral intentions delivered through short message service (SMS) text messaging would produce (1) positive responses to the messages, including message receptivity and emotional response; (2) indoor tanning efficacy beliefs, including response efficacy and self-efficacy; and (3) indoor tanning risk beliefs.

Methods: We conducted a pilot study of indoor tanning prevention messages delivered …

Decreasing Patient Cost And Travel Time Through Pediatric Rheumatology Telemedicine Visits., Elizabeth A. Kessler, Ashley K. Sherman, Mara L. Becker

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: There is a critical shortage of pediatric rheumatologists in the US. Substantial travel to clinics can impose time and monetary burdens on families. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cost of in-person pediatric rheumatology visits for families and determine if telemedicine clinics resulted in time and cost savings. Factors associated with interest in telemedicine were also explored.

METHODS: Surveys were offered to parents and guardians of patients in Pediatric Rheumatology follow-up clinics in Kansas City, Missouri, the primary site of in-person care, and at a telemedicine outreach site 160 miles away, in Joplin, Missouri. Survey questions …

User Acceptance Of Neurology Telemedicine Technology In The Emergency Department, Teresa W. Mcneil

Applied Research Projects

There is currently a significant shortage of trained neurologists in the country. In addition to the shortfall of neurologists, there is an increasing need for this specialty due to an aging population, increase in the incident of neurologic diseases and an increasing demand for healthcare (Freeman, 2013). The development of tele neurology technology has been shown to help address these problems. As with any new technology there are multiple barriers to overcome, one of those being user acceptance of the technology. A survey of users of the telemedicine product VGo was conducted at Hunt Regional Medical Center to access the …

Testing The Feasibility Of Remote Patient Monitoring In Prenatal Care Using A Mobile App And Connected Devices: A Prospective Observational Trial, Kathryn Marko, Jill M. Krapf, Andrew C. Meltzer, Julia Oh, Nihar Ganju, Anjali Martinez, Sheetal Sheth, Nancy D. Gaba

Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND:

Excessive weight gain and elevated blood pressure are significant risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes such as gestational diabetes, premature birth, and preeclampsia. More effective strategies to facilitate adherence to gestational weight gain goals and monitor blood pressure may have a positive health benefit for pregnant women and their babies. The impact of utilizing a remote patient monitoring system to monitor blood pressure and weight gain as a component of prenatal care has not been previously assessed.

OBJECTIVE:

The objective of this study is to determine the feasibility of monitoring patients remotely in prenatal care using a mobile phone …

Developing And Pretesting A Text Messaging Program For Health Behavior Change, Lorien C. Abroms, Robyn Whittaker, Caroline Free, Judith Mendel Van Alstyne, Jennifer M. Schindler-Ruwisch

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

Background: A growing body of evidence demonstrates that text messaging-based programs (short message service [SMS]) on mobile phones can help people modify health behaviors. Most of these programs have consisted of automated and sometimes interactive text messages that guide a person through the process of behavior change.

Objective: This paper provides guidance on how to develop text messaging programs aimed at changing health behaviors.

Methods: Based on their collective experience in designing, developing, and evaluating text messaging programs and a review of the literature, the authors drafted the guide. One author initially drafted the guide and the others provided input …

Can Electronic Health Records Systems Support New Payment Methods For Health Centers?, Peter Shin, Feygele Jacobs, Jeffrey Barnes, James B. Welsh, Lisa Perry, Scott D. Morgan

Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative

This study assessed the feasibility and usefulness of combining electronic health record (EHR) data with federal cost report data for the purposes of: 1) quantifying the provision of enabling services; and 2) for use as the basis of community health center payment rate-setting. The study used EHR data derived from the Center for Primary Care Informatics to isolate enabling services and perform the end-to-end analysis that might be required to develop or evaluate reimbursement rates. The study revealed that data extracted from federal cost reports combined with data from the EHR fall short of providing the information required to reasonably …

Telehealth: Into The Mainstream?, Lisa Sprague

National Health Policy Forum

Teleheath, and its subset telemedicine, extend across a range of technologies allowing patients to seek diagnosis, treatment, and other services from clinicians by electronic means. Telephone, videoconferencing, iPads, and apps are all employed. In its most established form, hospitals and medical centers use telehealth to reach patients in underserved rural areas. Proponents of telehealth suggest it can relieve medical workforce shortages; save patients time, money, and travel; reduce unnecessary hospital visits; improve the management of chronic conditions; and improve continuing medical education. But telehealth also faces ongoing challenges. States require physicians to be licensed in each state where they treat …

Correctional Telemedicine And Its Benefits For Female Inmates, Chelsea Oliver

Applied Research Projects

The purpose of this study is to identify health issues that are specific to the female population of correctional institutions and how telemedicine would be beneficial in providing healthcare to same. A questionnaire was developed using information from literature on the topics obtained from a variety of places. Once the questionnaire was completed, a randomly selected group of telemedicine providers received the questionnaire, along with an introduction and information on the study that was being conducted.

The barriers of this study came from telemedicine providers either not responding to the questionnaire entirely or the providers only being able to answer …

Consumer Consent Options For Electronic Health Information Exchange: Policy Considerations And Analysis, Melissa M. Goldstein, Alison L. Rein

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

The issue of whether, to what extent, and how individuals should have the ability to exercise control over their health information represents one of the foremost policy challenges related to the electronic exchange of health information. The current landscape of possible consent models is varied, and the factors involved in choosing among them are complex. States and other entities engaged in facilitating the exchange of electronic health information are struggling with a host of challenges, chief among them the establishment of policies and procedures for patient participation in their exchange efforts. While some have adopted policies enabling patients to exercise …

Role Of Information And Communication Technologies (Icts) In Behavior Change Communication In Northern India, Population Council

Reproductive Health

This research brief examines the growth of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) and its uses in the health sector, as well as existing and emerging ICT applications that have the potential to rapidly accelerate the adoption of family health practices. It also looks at its use in behavior change communication strategies to deliver services for improving family health outcomes. The findings indicate that ICTs, particularly mobile phones are likely to have a wider reach among rural populations. It also recommends scaling up multiple interaction systems using ICTs.

Personal Health Records: The People's Choice?, Lisa Sprague

National Health Policy Forum

Information technology (IT), especially in the form of an electronic health record (EHR), is touted by many as a key component of meaningful improvement in health care delivery and outcomes. A personal health record (PHR) may be an element of an EHR or a stand-alone record. Proponents of PHRs see them as tools that will improve consumers’ ability to manage their care and will also enlist consumers as advocates for widespread health IT adoption. This issue brief explores what a PHR is, the extent of demand for it, issues that need to be resolved before such records can be expected …

The Electronic Health Record In Practice: Why, How, And What Next?, Lisa Sprague, Sally Coberly

National Health Policy Forum

This local site visit was intended to allow participants to observe the electronic health record (EHR) as used in practice by two U.S. leaders in technology and quality, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and Kaiser Permanente (KP). The VHA has employed an EHR system since 1997; KP is in the process of implementing a standard system for all clinicians nationwide. The site visit was designed to provide an opportunity for participants to explore both the expected benefits from EHR adoption and the specific lessons these two large, integrated delivery systems have learned in their transition from paper to electronic records. …

Electronic Health Records: How Close? How Far To Go?, Lisa Sprague

National Health Policy Forum

This paper looks at the central role of the electronic health record (EHR) in health information technology. It considers the extent to which EHRs are in use and initiatives designed to increase their prevalence, as well as barriers to the widespread adoption of EHRs and efforts to surmount them. Particular attention is given to such obstacles as cost, the professional culture of physicians, standardization, and legal questions.

Physician Connectivity: Electronic Prescribing, Robin J. Strongin

National Health Policy Forum

This issue brief focuses on physician connectivity — the electronic linking of physicians with online resources such as clinical databases and sophisticated formulary systems. As physician connectivity increasingly allows physicians to prescribe online via a handheld computer complete with formulary information as well as patient data and drug information, this issue brief examines the issues raised by this technological advance within the broader context of online prescribing.