The Role of ECG in Telemedicine Consultations
As Wendell Willkie once mentioned:” There are no distant places any longer: the world is small and the world is one.” This expression accurately stresses what is happening in almost all spheres of human activity, including the healthcare provision. Indeed, telemedicine has revolutionized healthcare delivery, making medical services remote and instant. The contemporary paradigm which sees the necessity to provide healthcare availability at a global scale, prioritizes those approaches that allow efficient care provision at the highest mobility and accessibility levels. In this respect, special attention is paid to the development of new ECG methods as one of the precise and promising tools on which modern telemedicine can rely, expanding access to cardiac care worldwide.
ECG in Telemedicine: Fast, Simple, and Accurate Method
Electrocardiography is a robust approach to cardiac activity monitoring. Today, ECGs are widely used to monitor a patient’s heart rhythm from a distance, enabling the detection of various cardiac conditions including those of arrhythmia, myocardial infarction, and structural heart abnormalities. Moreover, patients with reported cardiac conditions can transmit regular ECG readings for further assessment. In urgent situations, ECGs proved to be a reliable tool for determining the need for immediate hospitalization. In cases when a patient cannot reach the hospital in person, ECG monitoring can be of use for remote pre-operative evaluation. Finally, telemedical ECG consultations turn out to be time-efficient. Indeed, each consultation can be conducted quickly, on time, and at the highest possible level of convenience, reducing wait times and provision costs.
On the other hand, integration of the ECG methods in contemporary telemedical complex systems is sometimes challenging. First of all, there are numerous purely technological issues such as internet connectivity, data compression, and storage. Secondly, since we are talking about the old-school method that passes through its second birth as a high-tech solution, additional training for the operating healthcare personnel is a “must to do ” task for each healthcare organization aiming at implementation of the telemedical cardiac monitoring. In particular, it implies increased training expenses. Finally, limited physical examination and inability to perform a hands-on test may be viewed as certain limitations of diagnostic precision.
ECG in Telemedicine: Future Directions
Integration of the ECG technology in telemedicine is likely to expand in the foreseeable future making new devices and data collection techniques appear on the scene. Another approach, which is highly likely to develop is the integration of ECG data processing tools with self-learning AI solutions. Being at the forefront of this evolution, we at Norav Medical do our best to introduce ECG systems that seamlessly integrate with telemedicine platforms. Our latest contributions embrace user-friendly interfaces for remote ECG transmission, cloud-based storage solutions, and analysis tools that support delivering high-quality cardiac data. We believe that fully automatic cardiac assessment tools with remote access and processing are what can be, and must be, developed in the following decade. Join us today and be our companion in the breathtaking journey to what once was thought a Sci-Fi dream.
References
- Bansal, A., & Joshi, R. (2018). Portable out‐of‐hospital electrocardiography: A review of current technologies. Journal of arrhythmia, 34(2), 129-138.
- Gruska, M., Aigner, G., Altenberger, J., Burkart-Küttner, D., Fiedler, L., Gwechenberger, M., … & Working Group Rhythmology of the Austrian Cardiological Society. (2020). Recommendations on the utilization of telemedicine in cardiology. Wiener klinische Wochenschrift, 132, 782-800.
- Soydan, E., Kayıkçıoğlu, M., & Zoghi, M. (2021). Telemedicine in Cardiology Outpatient Clinic: First Experience from a Tertiary Medical Center During the COVID-19 Pandemic. E Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine, 9(2).