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Telemedicine With Cell Phone Cameras May Be Feasible

Wed, 03/16/2005 - 1:00am — Karen Stevenson
Description: 

A recent study evaluated the feasibility of providing telemedical wound care using a mobile telephones with integrated cameras as a way to reduce the cost of care and make it easier to work with patients at a distance. A team of doctors led by Dr. Ralph Peter Braun of the University Hospital of Geneva set up three physicians to evaluate 61 leg ulcers. One physician did a face-to-face consultation that was used to determine the quality of the remote evaluations, and the other two physicians worked from pictures taken with a cell phone camera and sent to them by email. The researchers found that results from the remote evaluations were nearly as reliable as the face-to-face evaluation. The physicians considered the camera image to be good 59% of the time, and very good 20% of the time, and said they felt comfortable making a diagnosis based on the pictures in 82% of the cases.

The article is available in the Archives of Dermatology at: http://archderm.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/141/2/254

A recent study evaluated the feasibility of providing telemedical wound care using a mobile telephones with integrated cameras as a way to reduce the cost of care and make it easier to work with patients at a distance. A team of doctors led by Dr. Ralph Peter Braun of the University Hospital of Geneva set up three physicians to evaluate 61 leg ulcers. One physician did a face-to-face consultation that was used to determine the quality of the remote evaluations, and the other two physicians worked from pictures taken with a cell phone camera and sent to them by email. The researchers found that results from the remote evaluations were nearly as reliable as the face-to-face evaluation. The physicians considered the camera image to be good 59% of the time, and very good 20% of the time, and said they felt comfortable making a diagnosis based on the pictures in 82% of the cases.

The article is available in the Archives of Dermatology at: http://archderm.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/141/2/254