Plain Old Telephone System Research Articles

Cost Efficiencies in the Healthcare Setting: Telephone Versus Face-to-Face

The use of a legacy telephone system, often called plain old telephone system (POTS), or any variety of mobile phone in healthcare, is neither new nor novel. Since the beginning of telephony in the late 19th century, the phone has been a great tool to physicians (Aronson, 1977). Physicians, or their clinic office staff, have interacted with patients for decades. Today, mobile phones, or more specifically smart phones, provide health consumers access not only to health information but access to healthcare where the barriers of geography, distance and time are relegated to the back seat. The potential cost savings to the patient, the healthcare consumer, is quite appealing. Imagine a patient with a disease that can be managed from a distance. For instance, patients with congestive heart failure or Crohn's disease can be monitored in the comfort of their own home through telehealth — using remote monitoring systems or the telephone (Car and Sheikh, 2003; Inglis, 2010; Kane et al., 2003; Hommel et al., 2013). The cost savings to the patient, and therefore, the health system can be significant (Car and Sheikh, 2003; Bashshur et al., 2009). The travel costs and lost labor dollars for the patient and family can also be significant, especially if the patient–physician interaction can be performed over the phone; and the patient can remain in the surroundings that they are most comfortable in. Recently, Akobeng et al., reported the use of telephone consultations on young people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (Akobeng et al., 2015). The authors set out to assess the effectiveness and cost consequences of telephone consultations versus traditional face-to-face interaction. The patient population were aged between 8–16 years with IBD. A randomized–controlled trial of 86 patients was developed, conducted, and clearly demonstrated no difference in the two modalities (telephone versus face-to-face consultation), and reported a reduction in consultation time. Furthermore, the study demonstrated a cost saving over traditional face-to-face consultations. This study was well conducted and adds to the growing literature and evidence base that emphasizes the value of telecommunications in medicine. The use of the telephone or Internet in connecting patients and physicians for routine care has clearly been highlighted. The Akobeng et al. article is significant in that it can impact basic scientists who are studying more efficient and cost-saving approaches to clinical practice, as well as clinicians who seek to provide better patient care and effective clinical workflow. Each of these components can make an impact on the overall practice of healthcare. While the Akobeng et al. study answers some important questions, it is not the first to review this kind of approach. Other researchers, including Hommel et al., have studied the use of telehealth in medication adherence in children with IBD (Hommel et al., 2013). While much work has been done, additional studies need to be conducted to continue to build the evidence base. With a shortage of physicians, nurses and allied health professionals concomitant to the high cost of travel (gasoline) and losses in labor and productivity, new approaches to providing high quality healthcare must be considered. Randomized–controlled studies, like the one that Akobeng et al. report, clearly demonstrate that telephone consultations can improve the quality of life as measured in this study. While more research is underway around the world and more evidence is forthcoming, key takeaway messages include the following: 1) If patients can be seen in their natural setting such as their home, this has numerous advantages related to both outcomes and financial implications. 2) While face-to-face consultations may be ideal, it is not necessary in all cases. This may cause some consternation from healthcare providers, but research has pointed us in this direction. 3) Patients are consumers of a precious resource — healthcare. They are cost-conscious and more savvy than past generations and are engaged in the management of their care. If they can be seen remotely by their physician or talked to from their home, this will negate travel, thus saving time and money and is common sense. 4) Of course, medicine by telephone may not be the best method in all cases. So due diligence must be practiced by the physician and clinical staff. Akobeng et al. are to be commended for conducting this study and bringing it forward as evidence for all of us to review, embrace and challenge us in our clinical practice. I declare that I have no financial interest.

Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) as a communications tool in South African business

Internationally many businesses have implemented Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as an alternative to the traditional plain old telephone system (POTS). The increased functionality of VoIP offers many benefits, including the enhancement of a client’s shopping experience, effective utilisation of staff, and possible cost savings. Business management may be able to gain a competitive advantage by utilising the advantages that VoIP holds, but there are a number of risks to be considered and mitigated. Managing these risks is ultimately management’s responsibility. Risks include amongst others eavesdropping or hijacking of calls, and balancing quality of service with security control implementation and costs. This article investigates the use of VoIP compared to POTS as a communications tool in the South African business environment. The article includes a literature review of the topic, an explanation of the basic concept of VoIP, and the identification of major advantages and risks. The article aims to provide management with insight into what VoIP is what possible benefits it could hold for their business, and what the risks are. It is hoped that this article will serve as a tool in the decision-making process by consolidating data that is currently available. Key words: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Plain old Telephone System (POTS), communication, risks, business in South Africa.

Journal scan

The continuing development of technology offers the prospect of considerable benefits for older people, and it is now not uncommon to see computers with internet access in British nursing homes. In this American study, ten nursing home residents were encouraged to use a videophone to keep in contact with their relatives. Rather than using a computer and cyberspace, this equipment simply employed what the authors describe as POTS (plain old telephone system). A variety of problems were encountered during this trial, including inability to see the screen due to visual impairment and technical problems with the transmitted image. Four residents persevered with the equipment and successfully completed the trial period. One relative commented, 'Dad always had a more enthusiastic voice when we could talk together and see each other. It helped my dad through the winter months'.

POTS to broadband... Part 1: Anatomy of the telephone system for data communication.

Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology 277 This installment of IT World takes a look at the evolution of POTS (Plain Old Telephone System—and for my regular readers, I did not invent this acronym!) and modems to set the scene for examining newer “broadband” services. As usual the terminology gets a bit blurred in everyday use. This is why I put quotation marks around the broadband term—I’ll show you what I mean later in the column. We’ll talk about data communication on analog phone lines and digital lines along with their expected transfer speeds. In part 2 of this column, in the September-October issue of BI&T, I will focus on ISDN, X.25, Frame Relay mechanisms and protocols. This all leads to a discussion of xDSL, the latest in telephone broadband connections to telephone subscribers. I’m hoping to also cover broadband data communications via CATV cables and systems in part 2 (This is contingent on how wordy I get in part 2. The CATV portion may be delegated to a part 3). In any event, at the end of the discussion, we’ll be able to compare the virtues and disadvantages of each of these broadband techniques.

Automated compositional Markov chain generation for a plain-old telephone system

Obtaining performance models, like Markov chains and queueing networks, for systems of significant complexity and magnitude is a difficult task that is usually tackled using human intelligence and experience. This holds in particular for performance models of a highly irregular nature. In this paper we argue by means of a non-trivial example – a plain-old telephone system (POTS) – that a stochastic extension of process algebra can diminish these problems by permitting an automatic generation of Markov chains. We introduce a stochastic process algebra that separates the advance of time and action occurrences. For the sake of specification convenience we incorporate an elapse operator that allows the modular description of time constraints where delays are described by continuous phase-type distributions. Using this language we provide a formal specification of the POTS and show how a stochastic process of more than 10 7 states is automatically obtained from this system description. Finally, we aggregate this model compositionally using appropriate stochastic extensions of (strong and weak) bisimulation. As a result we obtain a highly irregular Markov chain of about 700 states in an automated way, which we use to carry out a transient performance analysis of the POTS.

The growth of internet telephony: Legal and policy issues

The growth of Internet Telephony as a potential challenge to regular telephony or the Plain-Old Telephone System (POTS) is an area of academic inquiry long overlooked. This paper critically examines the opposition to Internet telephony with particular emphasis on the 1996 America's Carriers Telecommunication Association (ACTA) petition to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in addition to the European Commission's attitudes towards the matter. The semantic difficulties attached to an understanding of defining what exactly "Internet Telephony" means are also addressed.

The long-run diffusion and techno-economic performance of national telephone networks: a case study of Ireland, 1922–1998

The telephone is one of the most widely used technologies in the advanced industrial economies, typically achieving a household penetration rate in excess of 90%. Over the course of this century, the plain old telephone system (POTS) has become a critical techno-social infrastructure for all sorts of economic, social and personal interactions. The question arises as to what has driven the widespread diffusion of the telephone? How can we describe the adoption of telephony as a core element in economic and social affairs in modern societies? In particular, how can we account for the great disparities in the rate and pace of the diffusion patterns of POTS, taking account of different national and historical contexts? This paper critically interrogates influential universal models or `theory-led’ explanations of the diffusion of telephone systems, especially their capacity to account for the empirically observable national variations. The authors test these models with respect to the historical trajectory of telecommunications development in Ireland, drawing on unique time-series data related to the actual patterns of telephone adoption, use and utility. The authors also re-assess the extent to which existing diffusion models throw some light on aspects of observable diffusion processes and patterns. A key conclusion from the approach adopted here is that in themselves, abstract deductive models are at best unsatisfactory. Whilst a combination of such `universal’ factors derived from more deductive models may be useful in elucidating different parts of the story, they are not sufficiently nuanced or adequate to describe or frame the complex stories of different national historical experiences. With the Irish case study we have attempted to illustrate the value of a historical and empirically based understanding of the socio-economic, political or institutional factors which have served to shape the development of telecommunications services and policy in Ireland.

Communications 98; a review. Part 1

This review covers those aspects of communications which are relatively new and will probably have a continuing impact for at least two years — although this forecast, like nearly all other forecasts, is likely to be mostly wrong. A small amount of essential basic material is included — such as the section entitled ‘The bandwidth/speed imperative’, So much effort is being devoted to this subject, particularly in the case of POTS ( Plain Old Telephone System) improvements, that a few words about it seems to be in order.

Telecomedia! — Telecommunications and Media in Distance Education

Abstract The rapid advances in telecommunications with POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) offer considerable potential for distance learners/teachers, and this paper examines these and looks to the future.