Telemedicine, capable of transcending the boundaries of time and space, has become an essential part of medical institutions' efforts to improve the quality of healthcare. Taipei Medical University Hospital (hereinafter referred to as TMUH) has been actively engaged in this field, utilizing the power of technology to establish convenient, high-quality, and comprehensive healthcare services. In recent years, TMUH has made great achievements in telemedicine. The hospital not only used its full-featured remote treatment platform to provide outpatient services during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also extended its reach to ocean-going merchant ships, homes, and long-term care facilities, leveraging smart technologies to help the public maintain and predict their health.
Liu Wen-Chi, director of Taipei Medical University Hospital Telemedicine Center, said that the original purpose of promoting telemedicine at TMUH was to strengthen the mechanisms of preventive medicine and provide health management services for people with hypertension, diabetes, and other groups with poor health. By monitoring patients' physiological data using remote equipment, medical teams can make predictions and intervene immediately to adjust medication, diet, and exercise habits to contain patients' existing conditions and minimize the risk of developing new diseases. This model of round-the-clock proactive health management also offers new ways of thinking and solutions for healthcare in an aging society.
Liu pointed out that TMUH had already started to provide telemedicine services before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the platform going online on the eve of the pandemic outbreak. After the outbreak of the pandemic, TMUH was able to fully utilize its self-developed platform and provide outpatient video services, allowing the public to register and arrange medical consultations online. The platform also fully stores all medical data and manages all audio and video files recorded during medical sessions in the cloud. This minimizes the risk of patients' personal data being leaked. In the future, TMUH will cooperate with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and accept virtual NHI cards to provide telemedicine services. Moreover, Taipei Medical University Healthcare System will pool the medical resources of its four affiliated hospitals, namely TMUH, Wanfang Hospital, Shuang Ho Hospital, and Hsin Kuo Min Hospital, to realize the vision of "One Campus" and actively promote low-carbon and net-zero transformation to provide joint remote outpatient treatment services. This will allow the public to receive remote medical treatments from doctors in different hospitals via video conferencing, integrating and strengthening the capabilities of telemedicine services offered by Taipei Medical University Healthcare System.
Currently, TMUH has developed a smart and automated home telemedicine system that integrates a variety of devices connected to the Internet The system integrates multidisciplinary professional care from doctors, nurses, and nutrition and rehabilitation specialists. With nurses on the front line as supervisors, the system provides round-the-clock telemedicine services to the public and analyzes physiological data using AI technology. If abnormalities are detected in a patient, the system immediately alerts nurses to initiate follow-up measures such as remote care and medical treatment.
TMUH's range of services is not limited to patients with chronic illnesses or home and family care for the general public, but also focuses on specific groups with limited medical resources. The crews of ocean-going vessels are one of these groups. Liu mentioned that there is a lack of medical personnel on most ocean-going merchant ships. If a crew member is injured or falls ill, there is no choice but to wait for the ship to dock or to have the captain or first mate, who have basic medical training, provide emergency treatment. However, both of these approaches are only effective to a limited extent. In this context, TMUH has been working with shipping companies to promote the concept of remote sustainable green healthcare. TMUH installs telemedicine systems on ships and assists in the production of standardized medicines and medical equipment. To enable remote medical treatments via video and emergency care guidance, TMUH transmits all medical communication via medium or low orbit satellites. In this way, ship crews can be guided by doctors and treat patients immediately and correctly in the crucial moments following an injury or the outbreak of an illness. This significantly improves the accessibility and quality of medical care and effectively reduces the risk and severity of injury and illness for the ship's crew.
In order to provide the telemedicine services described above, healthcare providers must work closely with device manufacturers. Only through extensive communication and interaction can telemedicine systems be adapted to the needs of both healthcare professionals and the people they care for. Liu therefore pointed out that cooperation with experienced device manufacturers generally runs more smoothly, as they are already familiar with the various requirements of the healthcare sector.The VivoWatch from ASUS, a smart health wearable, for example, has integrated physiological sensors that can measure various indicators such as blood pressure, blood oxygen, heart rate, ECG, sleep quality, and stress. The device allows wearers and healthcare professionals to access a wealth of physiological information at a glance. Healthcare professionals can use the data to assess the health of their patients and give advice in real time. The data can also be analyzed to predict individual disease risk and thus optimize the quality of telemedicine services.
As the quality of telemedicine services improves, the range of possible telemedicine applications will continue to expand. Liu expects telemedicine to further open up the field of remote treatment. Especially after the introduction of new technologies such as the Internet of Things, 5G, and AR/VR, telemedicine will be more applicable and difficult procedures such as remote surgery or rehabilitation will be developed. In addition, remote technologies can also be combined with smart home care to create a more comprehensive and sophisticated solution for the long-term care of the elderly. There is also a chance that the whole paradigm of telemedicine will shift and the dream of patient-centered, holistic healthcare, where technology has warmth and wisdom, will become a reality.
As for future planning, Liu said Taiwan's new telemedicine law took effect on July 1. Together with virtual NHI cards, the public will be able to enjoy more convenient and lifestyle-oriented telemedicine care services. In response, TMUH will pursue the aforementioned strategy of integrating hospital resources and professional telemedicine healthcare teams. As part of the new developments in telemedicine triggered by the new legislation, TMUH will provide the public with better and more accurate healthcare using physiological measurement devices.
Liu Wen-chi pointed out that healthcare providers must work closely with equipment suppliers to provide real-time health assessments and recommendations through wearable devices, making the system meet the needs of both healthcare professionals and those receiving care. Credit: ASUS
Currently, TMUH has integrated various connected devices to develop a smart and automated home telecare system. Credit: ASUS
