ABSTRACT
In most underdeveloped or third world countries like Nigeria, there are very large numbers of patients in remote rural areas that need specific healthcare support services at home.
Due to shortages of medical experts, hospitals coupled with geographic isolation, and lack of opportunities for these experts, the few available medical experts are often reluctant to serve in such poorer areas with lesser opportunities and advantages.
Asa result of this, people living in these rural and poorer areas have limited access to basic healthcare services and consequently receive lower-quality services, compared to those living in urban areas where the best-equipped hospitals and medical experts are distributed.
Those living in the rural areas requiring the attention of health care practitioners to meet their needs must travel to distant healthcare centres, which is quite unaffordable due to the present state of medical emergencies.
Thus it has become very crucial and important to develop a robust that will drastically improve and change the present state of healthcare delivery services.
In this work, an interactive-mode telemedicine environment is designed to provide tools for overcoming the unequal distribution of medical experts, establishing meaningful consultations between the rural health workers and specialists located in larger medical centres.
The proposed also provides for the healthcare workers to gain access to vital information that can aid in the diagnosis of a patient’s health or the development of suitable treatment plans and for the patients to fully enjoy an enhanced healthcare service in the rural areas and urban cities.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Title Page i
Declaration ii
Certification iii
Acknowledgment iv
Dedication v
Abstract vi
Table of Contents vii
List of Tables x
List of Figures xi
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of study 1
The motivation of study 3
The objective of study 4
Research methodology 4
Contribution to knowledge 5
Organization of the rest of the thesis 5
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ON TELEMEDICINE SYSTEM AND RELATED WORKS
Introduction to Telemedicine 6
History of Telemedicine 7
Review of E-Health 13
E-Health History 13
Overview of some existing telemedicine System 15
Telecardiology 18
Dermatology 21
Electronic medical records for rural health systems 22
Wristclinic 24
CHAPTER THREE: SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
Telemedicine system 25
Telemedicine system architecture 25
Implemented System description 29
Administrative module 32
Consultation module 33
3.3.2.1 Consultation/diagnosis 33
3.3.2.2 Remote Consultation 37
3.3.2.3 Test module 50
Referral module 50
Training module 52
Designing telemedicine system database 53
3.4.1 Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) 55
3.5 Designing the healthcare enterprise memory 59
3.6 Strategic healthcare decision support services 65
3.7 Implementing the system database 66
CHAPTER FOUR: SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS
System Implementation 73
4.1.1 System security and privacy 73
4.1.2 System Interface 75
4.1.3 Teleconsultation database result 78
Performance analysis 78
4.2.1 Software Analysis 78
4.2.2 Hardware analysis 80
4.2.3 Technical analysis 81
4.2.4 Interoperability 81
Challenges and implementation bottleneck 82
4.3.1 Organisational and cultural inertia 82.
4.3.2 Technology and information change 82
4.3.3 Lack of IT funding and human resources 83
Training 84
4.4.1 Pro and con training methods 85
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion 87
Recommendations 88
Area of further research 89
References 90
Appendix A (Source code listing) 94
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Telemedicine can be broadly defined as the use of and telecommunication technologies to provide medical information and services at a distance.
Telemedicine has existed long before the internet, some authors observed that telemedicine was broadly conceived even when the term was used almost three decades ago.
Some of the first telemedicine were of group therapy (Withson, et. al., 1961), nursing interactions (Cunningham, et. al., 1978), education and training (Menolascino et. al., 1970), telemetry (Fuchs, 1979), televisions to community health workers (Straker, et. al., 1972), and home care(Mark, 1974), among other applications.
In many cases, no was involved, and interactivity was not a necessary aspect of the processing. The term Telemedicine is the delivery of medicine at a distance.
The term is composed of the Greek word τελε (tele) meaning ‘far’, and medicine. Telemedicine may be as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over the telephone, or as complex as using satellite technology and video-conferencing equipment to conduct a real-time consultation between medical specialists in two different countries.
It can also involve the use of an unmanned robot. Telemedicine generally refers to the use of communications and information technologies for the delivery of clinical care.
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StudentsandScholarship Team.
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