Telehealth devices allow patients to monitor health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and respiratory issues from home and electronically send medical data to healthcare practitioners. These devices include blood glucose meters, blood pressure monitors, weight scales, and devices that measure oxygen levels and breathing capacity. The collected data is transmitted to hospitals and clinics to help doctors assess patients' conditions and determine if treatment needs adjusting. Telehealth aims to provide more proactive healthcare by alerting medical teams to abnormal readings so they can quickly contact patients and prevent health issues from worsening. This remote monitoring approach frees up hospital resources by allowing home to function like a hospital with technology support.

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accessawareness
TECH TALK
Guy Dewsbury
presents an overview
of telehealth – what it
is, and the uses it can
be put to…
Telehealth devices, such
as the pictured examples
from Yorkshire-based firm
Tunstall, can be used to
monitor a person’s
weight, pulse, blood
pressure and other
physical characteristics
L
ast issue I looked at the
concept of mHealth – using
mobile and wireless
technologies to make health
monitoring and treatment more
efficient. This month, I’m examining
one aspect of mHealth – telehealth.
Telehealth devices allow people with
chronic conditions, such as stroke, heart
disease, diabetes and chest conditions, to
monitor their health in their own homes.
Certain types of monitors, meters,
weighing scales and other devices enable
users to take an active role in the
management of their condition, by
electronically sending medical
observations and data directly to a health
practitioner who will be monitoring their
condition remotely.
The table below gives some examples
of telehealth devices and what they do:
a monitor-equipped ‘telehealth hub’,
which can be made to display a series of
personalised questions for the user to
answer on how they feel and how they are
managing their conditions. Other systems
might display the questions on a private
webpage that can be accessed via a
standard web browser. The answers to
these questions will be passed to the
medical team and used to help them in
making their diagnoses.
Telehealth device
Use
Digital blood glucose meters
Measures glucose in the patient’s blood
Blood pressure monitors
Measures the patient’s blood pressure
Digital weight scales
Enables a patient’s weight to be sent remotely to the
health team
Pulse oximeters
Measures the amount of oxygen in the patient’s blood
Peak flow meters
Measures the person's maximum speed of expiration
(breathing out)
Telehealth hub
Provides specific questions relating to how the
person is coping with their condition.
Data-transmitting telehealth devices
are designed to collect data and transmit
it in packets (the method used to enable
electronic communications across the
internet) to designated hospitals and
other health facilities. Once the data is
received and stored it can be used to
assess the person’s condition by medical
staff – who might then suggest
modifications to the individual’s existing
treatment, if required.
Some telehealth systems may include
Proactive healthcare
Telehealth equipment can be used
alongside other peripherals, such as
oxygen supplies. For people with complex
conditions, it may be necessary for them
to be provided with multiple telehealth
devices.
Abnormal readings will alert the
support team, who then can contact the
patient directly and provide advice on
how best to manage their condition. This
enables a more proactive approach to
healthcare, in which medical teams can
quickly respond to changes in the patient
and prevent episodes or further
deterioration of their condition.
Most importantly, if the devices report
an irregular reading, this can be flagged to
the health team as requiring urgent
attention. Often the patient will be unaware
that their health status has changed until
the health team contacts them.
This form of remote health
monitoring means that hospital resources
can be freed up. When someone can
manage their own health with the support
of technology and a specialist health
team, it allows the home to, in effect,
become a hospital. As technology
develops, telehealth devices will become
ever more discreet and able to provide
health professionals with increasingly
sophisticated measurements.
Teleheath technology
allows individuals at home
to monitor their condition
and report the findings to
medical specialists at a
remote location
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