A Telemedicine System for High-Quality Transmission of Paper Electrocardiographic Reports

Abstract

To overcome problems associated with the faxing of ECGs, we developed a telemedicine system providing fast transmission of ECGs between physicians and cardiologists at different locations. It digitized ECGs at a resolution of 300 dots/inch (118 dots/cm), processed them, and transmitted them over a standard telephone line in under one minute. The system also paged the cardiologist in order to direct him or her to the location where the ECG would be waiting for interpretation. The system enabled physicians at remote locations to consult using voice, images and simultaneous cursor pointers. A transmitting site was set up at the Medical Centre of the Ministry of Defence and a receiving site at the National University Hospital, about 5 km away. During a six-month trial, 200 ECG reports were transmitted from one site to the other. They were rated excellent in quality by the cardiologists, being virtually indistinguishable from the originals. Our telemedicine system transmits high-quality ECGs rapidly and at low cost.

Application of a low cost telemedicine link to the diagnosis of neonatal congenital heart defects by remote consultation

“…In particular radiologists have used modern telecommunications systems to transmit still images of standard x rays, computed tomographs, and magnetic resonance imaging scans. Previously reported applications to cardiology have mainly involved ECG transmission 8. Most published studies have, however, only shown that particular applications are feasible and the results have not been subjected to qualitative or quantitative analysis.…”

Telemedicine in the Michigan Upper Peninsula region: an evaluation of the first five years

“…The majority of Michigan's population and economic activity is in the Lower Peninsula. The UP region is an area of 42,600 km 2 and contains 15 rural counties, with a total population of 314,000 at a density of 7 people/km 2 , according to census data 15 . People in the UP region experience barriers to health-care that are similar to those in many rural areas throughout the United States.…”

“…Much of the telemedicine literature to date has focused on the technology itself [1][2][3][4] and there has been little research on the organizational issues that can make or break telemedicine programmes. Even though there is evidence that managerial and administrative issues play a vital role in the effectiveness and utilization of telemedicine services, few studies have attempted to document the influence and role of structure, leadership, job roles or training [5][6][7][8] .…”

Eighteen months' experience with remote diagnosis, management and education in congenital heart disease

“…Telemedicine can be used to improve the management of a patient in a remote centre where the necessary medical expertise is not available. Telemedicine has been used in numerous fields, including cardiology 1 and paediatric cardiology 2,3 . Telecardiology has been used for many years, for example for the transmission of electrocardiograms (ECGs) in order to monitor implanted pacemakers 4 .…”