Ten Years of Experience With a Telemedicine Platform Dedicated to Health Care Personnel: Implementation Report.

BACKGROUND: Telemedicine, a term that encompasses several applications and tasks, generally involves the remote management and treatment of patients by physicians. It is known as transversal telemedicine when practiced among health care professionals (HCPs). OBJECTIVE: We describe the experience of implementing our telemedicine Eumeda platform for HCPs over the last 10 years. METHODS: A web-based informatics platform was developed that had continuously updated hypertext created using advanced technology and the following features: security, data insertion, dedicated software for image analysis, and the ability to export data for statistical surveys. Customizable files called "modules" were designed and built for different fields of medicine, mainly in the ophthalmology subspecialty. Each module was used by HCPs with different authorization profiles. IMPLEMENTATION (RESULTS): Twelve representative modules for different projects are presented in this manuscript. These modules evolved over time, with varying degrees of interconnectivity, including the participation of a number of centers in 19 cities across Italy. The number of HCP operators involved in each single module ranged from 6 to 114 (average 21.8, SD 28.5). Data related to 2574 participants were inserted across all the modules. The average percentage of completed text/image fields in the 12 modules was 65.7%. All modules were evaluated in terms of access, acceptability, and medical efficacy. In their final evaluation, the participants judged the modules to be useful and efficient for clinical use. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate the usefulness of the telemedicine platform for HCPs in terms of improved knowledge in medicine, patient care, scientific research, teaching, and the choice of therapies. It would be useful to start similar projects across various health care fields, considering that in the near future medicine as we know it will completely change.

Diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of the carpal tunnel syndrome: a review.

The carpal tunnel syndrome is a compressive neuropathy with high incidence rates, and its correct diagnosis, treatment and follow-up may lead to significant benefits in healthcare, social and economic terms. In this review, based on systematic review databases and guidelines, we summarise the appropriate indications for the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up, accompanied, whenever possible, by the levels of evidence and strength of recommendations.

[Clinical practice and adherence to the diagnosis and treatment of NMIBC guidelines: a report of a recognition based clinical cases study]. / Pratica clinica e aderenza a Linee Guida nella diagnosi e terapia delle neoplasie vescicali non muscolo-invasive: report di uno studio ricognitivo basato su casi clinici.

For non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, a disease with a considerable epidemiological and socio-economic impact, the introduction of the Guidelines has always evoked as a tool for the resolution of long-standing disputes in terms of diagnosis and therapy. Check the degree of routine clinical practice adherence to the Recommendations is for this disease, more than for other uro-oncology pathology, an urgent need felt by the urological community. To assess the level of Guidelines adherence's, and study issues related to the paths of diagnosis and treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, and identifying the processes actually implemented in daily clinical practice, a series of case studies has submitted to a group of experts. The acknowledgement study allowed testing the impact of the current Evidence Based Medicine Recommendations in the everyday clinical practice identifying strengths and weaknesses. Questions Responses Analysis' of 5 clinical cases (Ta low grade, T1 low grade, T1 high grade, T1 high grade + CIS, Ta low-grade multiple recurrence) showed a moderate amendment to the European Association of Urology (EAU)-Guidelines. On the other hand, it was emphasized that there are clear discrepancies between what should be done, in accordance with the Evidence Based Medicine Recommendations, and what is actually do in everyday clinical practice. The most common reason for the low Recommendations adherences are structural and organizational practical limitations.

A teleconsultation network improves the efficacy of anti-VEGF therapy in retinal diseases.

We investigated the care of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) managed via a physician-to-physician teleconsultation network for ophthalmology. Eleven groups of ophthalmologists took part in the study. The groups were located in 10 cities across Italy. Each group was based on a Retina Centre located at a university or hospital, with one or two expert ophthalmologists (20 expert ophthalmologists in total). In each region containing a Retina Centre, 6-10 general ophthalmologists (94 ophthalmologists in total) referred patients via the network for a period of three months between June 2011 and December 2012. An automatic grading system quantified the risk of disease progression, and a remote booking system allowed the referring ophthalmologist to make appointments directly with the appropriate Retina Centre. There were 360 network patients and 318 control patients (consecutive patients undergoing usual care during the previous three months). The time delay before therapy was significantly shorter in the network patients (mean 5.5 days) compared with the usual care patients (mean 28.7 days; P < 0.0001). There was a significant improvement in visual acuity in the network patients after treatment (first visit = 0.29 logMAR; after treatment = 0.22 logMAR; P < 0.05). In contrast, there was no improvement in the usual care patients (first visit = 0.29 logMAR; after treatment = 0.27 logMAR; P > 0.05). The telemedicine network allows regional ophthalmologists to quantify the risk of disease progression, and to send patients to a Retina Centre quickly and easily, when required.