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Telemedicine: The State of Telepresence In Healthcare (robohub.org)
Hallie Siegel writes: Telemedicine can let doctors and nurses check in on patients who might be recovering at home, or monitor people in remote locations where it's hard to access physician services. This article gives an overview of the different systems that are out there, what are some of the legal obstacles, and how various countries are investing in the technology. From the article: "The Japanese government has allocated about $23M USD to the core technology market in an effort to develop products for its aging population. Toyota, for example, is focusing on home living assistance robots that will allow those with limited mobility the opportunity to live at home. While Japan might have the largest market in the world of 65+ citizens (over 30 million as of 2014), South Korea is estimated to be allocating nearly $6B USD to their own robotics research. The Koreans are taking a different approach, using robots for mundane tasks of delivering food, allowing humans to provide care."
I don't see you listing any barriers that can't be overtaken.
Then you have an insufficient understanding of the problem, particularly of the economics involved.
Get the remote site the equipment needed.
So you are going to send a bunch of expensive equipment to a remote location where it will be infrequently used and operated by people who have no expertise. What could possibly go wrong... Or are you suggesting we staff a quasi-remote location? In that case it isn't really telemedicine anymore is it? Then it's just a branch office with Skype.
Perhaps the staff can't treat the patient for every diagnosed condition, but they can get a better diagnosis
Sometimes yes, very often no. If you are going to have a remote site staffed with trained medical professionals then you don't need telemedicine except for the odd specialty consultation. We can do some fancy remote surgery stuff but we haven't worked out the technology completely and aren't even close to solving the economics of that technology. (hint: it's REALLY expensive) Telemedicine has its uses but they are going to be edge cases for the foreseeable future. It is NOT the panacea that many imagine it to be.
One imagines that you don't realize how complex the human body is, and how many things can be solved remotely.
Well I'm married to an MD who would be happy to explain it to you.
One thing I will never understand is why neo-luddites like yourself even bother to read slashdot. You are clearly against technological progress.
Nice. "Neo-luddites"? Seriously? Are you a medical professional or do you just imagine that you understand the problems involved in telemedicine better than those who are?