Do you know the Origin of Telemedicine?

Telemedicine is a relatively new concept, and it is evolving at breakneck speed in the internet age. This blog is for individuals who wish to learn everything there is to know about this intriguing and active field.

Since its inception, the field of telemedicine has evolved dramatically. A few hospitals began trying with telemedicine to reach patients in faraway regions only approximately fifty years ago. Telemedicine has evolved into a complex integrated service utilized in hospitals, homes, private physician offices, and other healthcare institutions as a result of significant technological advancements over the last few decades.

The concept of telemedicine started with the birth of telecommunications technology, the means of sending information over a distance in the form of electromagnetic signals. Early forms of telecommunications technology included the telegraph, radio, and telephone. In the late 19th century, the radio and telephone were just starting to emerge as viable communication technologies.

However, it wasn't until the early twentieth century that the general public became aware of these technologies and realized that they could be used in medicine. Dr. Hugo Gernsback's strange creation, the "teledactyl," was featured on the cover of Science and Invention magazine in 1925. The envisioned instrument would inspect a patient from afar using spindly robot fingers and radio technology, and show the doctor a video stream of the patient.

While this idea never progressed beyond the concept stage, it foreshadowed the modern notion of telemedicine: a remote video consultation between a doctor and a patient.

The Space Technology Applied to Rural Papago Advanced Health Care (STARPAHC), a collaboration between NASA and the Indian Health Services, was one of the most successful government-funded telemedicine projects.

Projects like STARPAHC fueled medical engineering research and aided in the advancement of telemedicine. Continuing advancements in telemedicine and broader research at universities, medical centers, and research organizations marked the next few decades.

Telemedicine Today & its Evolution

The field of telemedicine is changing quicker than it has ever been before. Basic telemedicine tools are becoming more affordable and accessible as technology progresses at an exponential rate. Not only do we now have the technology for live video telemedicine, but a large portion of the Indian population has used online video chat apps (such as Skype or Facetime) and has access to a computer or mobile device to use them.

Telemedicine Online Platform was designed as a tool to treat patients who lived in distant areas, far away from local health facilities, or in areas where medical personnel were in low supply. While telemedicine is still employed to address these issues today, it is increasingly being viewed as a tool for providing convenient medical treatment across India. The connected patient of today wants to spend less time in the doctor's waiting room and receive immediate care for minor but urgent conditions.

The demand for more convenient care, along with the unavailability of many overworked medical professionals (particularly primary care practitioners), has fueled the growth of telemedicine businesses. Many provide patients with access to medical treatment 24 hours a day, seven days a week via an on-call doctor hired by the company. Others provide extra clinical staff and specialists to hospitals and major health institutions for the outsourcing of specific cases (common model among teleradiology companies). Others offer a telemedicine platform that allows doctors to conduct virtual visits with their own patients just like MedleyMed does.

MedleyMed provides services involving all parties, a healthcare technology platform develops a collaboration healthcare ecosystem to administer all areas of healthcare. It integrates procedures with technologies.