Remote Medical Examination Research Articles

Machine learning and IoT system for real-time cough detection and classification

Our research investigates the application of machine learning and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in healthcare, focusing on detecting and classifying coughing episodes. Leveraging deep learning architectures and a comprehensive IoT infrastructure, we developed an automated system capable of monitoring audio signals from a microphone array module to detect coughs and classify their types accurately. The study utilized the COUGHVID dataset for model training and evaluation, employing rigorous preprocessing techniques to ensure data integrity. Through comparative analysis, we identified MobileNet as the optimal model for cough detection, achieving promising results in accuracy, area under the ROC curve (AUC), and F1 score. Furthermore, our emphasis on privacy safeguards and remote medical examination facilitation underscores the practical implications of our research in enhancing healthcare delivery. Our study contributes to advancing technology-enabled healthcare solutions, offering valuable insights and solutions for improving patient care and outcomes.

Applying ChatGPT to writing scientific articles on the use of telemedicine: Opportunities and limitations

In the rapidly evolving world of technology, artificial intelligence (AI) has significantly integrated into various aspects of our lives, including health-care, education, finance, transportation, and entertainment. Notably, AI has also impacted the writing of textual works such as scientific papers, professional opinions, and educational texts. This study investigates the application of OpenAI’s ChatGPT language model in writing scientific articles on telemedicine, specifically in the areas of cardiology, oncology, and remote medical examination. The study uses ChatGPT versions 3.5 and 4 to create articles using three different prompts. The created articles were evaluated based on the reliability of the cited literature references, the impact factor (IF) of the journal in which the sources were published, and the relevance of the sources. The sources were divided into three categories: reliable, semi-reliable, and completely fictitious. The results demonstrate that ChatGPT can produce semantically coherent and error-free texts indistinguishable from human-written texts. However, the reliability of literary references varies significantly. ChatGPT 4, benefitting from its larger training dataset, generates a higher percentage of reliable sources compared to ChatGPT 3.5. The IF analysis indicates the prevalence of high-impact journals among reliable sources, which emphasizes the effectiveness of the model in selecting quality references. The study highlights the need for caution when using AI to write scientific articles due to the potential for biased, unverified, and inaccurate information. It is important to critically evaluate and vet AI-generated content. In addition, the study emphasizes that the correct use of AI and thoughtful drafting of prompts can improve the efficiency and quality of scientific papers. Future advancements in AI technology are expected to further minimize errors and biases.

To the problem of medical-forensic procedure of remote examination of living persons: a scientific review

This article describes the aspects of conducting a remote medical examination. The norms of the criminal procedure legislation of Kazakhstan and foreign countries regulating the procedure for conducting medical examinations, remote investigative actions, and scientific publications of researchers in the field of medicine are considered. A literature review on the study topic revealed studies of scientists on aspects of conducting medical examinations, problems arising during their production, and a description of individual medical cases conducted remotely and noted the lack of comprehensive holistic studies, including an algorithm of actions, the legal basis for conducting a medical examination in a remote format, and the practical advantages of their production.
 Considering the generalization of scientific works and analysis of domestic and foreign legislation on the subject, the authors propose an algorithm for conducting medical examinations in an online format. In the present work, a SWOT analysis of remote medical examinations was performed, and the positive and negative aspects of the introduction of remote medical examinations were determined. The trends and risks of their implementation in practice are considered.
 Based on the analysis of the national mechanism for conducting medical examinations and research and adaptation of the norms of foreign legislation on the issue under consideration, proposals have been formulated to improve the steps of medical examinations. The proposed algorithm for conducting remote medical examinations will allow solving some practical problems, which will significantly increase the efficiency of their production.

Intelligent Healthcare: Integration of Emerging Technologies and Internet of Things for Humanity.

Health is gold, and good health is a matter of survival for humanity. The development of the healthcare industry aligns with the development of humans throughout history. Nowadays, along with the strong growth of science and technology, the medical domain in general and the healthcare industry have achieved many breakthroughs, such as remote medical examination and treatment applications, pandemic prediction, and remote patient health monitoring. The advent of 5th generation communication networks in the early 2020s led to the Internet of Things concept. Moreover, the 6th generation communication networks (so-called 6G) expected to launch in 2030 will be the next revolution of the IoT era, and will include autonomous IoT systems and form a series of endogenous intelligent applications that serve humanity. One of the domains that receives the most attention is smart healthcare. In this study, we conduct a comprehensive survey of IoT-based technologies and solutions in the medical field. Then, we propose an all-in-one computing architecture for real-time IoHT applications and present possible solutions to achieving the proposed architecture. Finally, we discuss challenges, open issues, and future research directions. We hope that the results of this study will serve as essential guidelines for further research in the human healthcare domain.

Face mediated human–robot interaction for remote medical examination

Realtime visual feedback from consequences of actions is useful for future safety-critical human–robot interaction applications such as remote physical examination of patients. Given multiple formats to present visual feedback, using face as feedback for mediating human–robot interaction in remote examination remains understudied. Here we describe a face mediated human–robot interaction approach for remote palpation. It builds upon a robodoctor–robopatient platform where user can palpate on the robopatient to remotely control the robodoctor to diagnose a patient. A tactile sensor array mounted on the end effector of the robodoctor measures the haptic response of the patient under diagnosis and transfers it to the robopatient to render pain facial expressions in response to palpation forces. We compare this approach against a direct presentation of tactile sensor data in a visual tactile map. As feedback, the former has the advantage of recruiting advanced human capabilities to decode expressions on a human face whereas the later has the advantage of being able to present details such as intensity and spatial information of palpation. In a user study, we compare these two approaches in a teleoperated palpation task to find the hard nodule embedded in the remote abdominal phantom. We show that the face mediated human–robot interaction approach leads to statistically significant improvements in localizing the hard nodule without compromising the nodule position estimation time. We highlight the inherent power of facial expressions as communicative signals to enhance the utility and effectiveness of human–robot interaction in remote medical examinations.

Human-like tele-health robotics for older adults - A preliminary feasibility trial and vision.

The global increase of the aging population presents major challenges to healthcare service delivery. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed older adults' vulnerability to rapid deterioration of health when deprived of access to care due to the need for social distancing. Robotic technology advancements show promise to improve provision of quality care, support independence for patients and augment the capabilities of clinicians to perform tasks remotely. This study explored the feasibility and end-user acceptance of using a novel human-like tele-robotic system with touch feedback to conduct a remote medical examination and deliver safe care. Testing of a remotely controlled robot was conducted with in-person clinician support to gather ECG readings of 11 healthy participants through a digital medical device. Post-study feedback about the system and the remote examinations conducted was obtained from study participants and study clinicians. The findings demonstrated the system's capability to support remote examination of participants, and validated the system's perceived acceptability by clinicians and end-users who all reported feeling safe interacting with the robot and 72% preferred remote robotic exam over in-person examination. This paper discusses potential implications of robot-assisted telehealth for patients including older adults who are precluded from having in-person medical visits due to geographic distance or mobility, and proposes next steps for advancing robot-assisted telehealth delivery.

A Study on the Possible Diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease on the Basis of Facial Image Analysis

One of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease is the occurrence of problems with the expression of emotions on the face, called facial masking, facial bradykinesia or hypomimia. Recent medical studies show that this symptom can be used in the diagnosis of this disease. In the presented study, the authors, on the basis of their own research, try to answer the question of whether it is possible to build an automatic Parkinson’s disease recognition system based on the face image. The research used image recordings in the field of visible light and infrared. The material for the study consisted of registrations in a group of patients with Parkinson’s disease and a group of healthy patients. The patients were asked to express a neutral facial expression and a smile. In the detection, both geometric and holistic methods based on the use of convolutional network and image fusion were used. The obtained results were assessed quantitatively using statistical measures, including F1score, which was a value of 0.941. The results were compared with a competitive work on the same subject. A novelty of our experiments is that patients with Parkinson’s disease were in the so-called ON phase, in which, due to the action of drugs, the symptoms of the disease are reduced. The results obtained seem to be useful in the process of early diagnosis of this disease, especially in times of remote medical examination.

Using Emerging Telehealth Technology as a Future Model in Vietnam During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Practical Experience From Phutho General Hospital.

Telehealth has emerged as a model of modern technology for health care services in Vietnam during the COVID-19 pandemic. To actively prevent the outbreak of COVID-19 by using a national digital transformation program, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health launched project 2628/Quyet dinh-Bo y te, which approved a scheme for remote medical examinations and treatments for 2020 to 2025. The project aims to connect 1000 hospitals to strengthen the quality of medical services by using the expertise of central hospitals to support rural areas via provincial hospitals. Phutho General Hospital (PGH) is one of leading provincial hospitals that participated in and applied the early telehealth systems in Vietnam. By using telehealth systems, PGH can offer valuable support to doctors’ activities by streamlining and facilitating their work. Telehealth was demonstrated to be feasible, acceptable, and effective at PGH in Vietnam, and it resulted in considerable improvements in health care outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic has facilitated the acceleration and enhancement of telehealth in Vietnam. The success of telehealth in Phutho may be a useful reference for other parts of the world. However, this telehealth system focuses on the connectivity among doctors rather than the connectivity between doctors and patients, which is an area that needs further assessment.

Social impacts of the continuous usage of digital healthcare service: A case of South Korea

As untact communication is promoted in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, special attention is paid to remote medical examination and customized healthcare trends. General digital healthcare services among social community members positively affect individuals’ healthcare and reduce medical social services’ burden, contributing to the development of society. Accordingly, it is necessary to induce healthcare behaviors through the continuous usage of digital healthcare services among social community members and to examine significant social impact factors in this regard. This study empirically analyzes the impact of three social impact factors – social capital, social support, and social value – on the continuous usage of digital healthcare service with healthcare behaviors and e-health literacy as media. To this end, a survey was conducted among 363 individuals who had used digital healthcare services in Korea, and the statistical data were analyzed. Social capital and social value were found to affect healthcare behaviors, e-health literacy, and continuous usage intentions, but social support did not. Based on this result, it was confirmed that the factors regarded by digital healthcare service users as necessary were the values and perceptions shared in society and the group, information and active communication rather than direct public support.

A specialized system of pre-trip medical examinations using digital technologies

A system of pre-trip medical examinations using digital technologies has been developed. It includes a remote questionnaire, the results of which are analyzed and a reporting form is generated in text format and in the form of a graph. Portable, autonomous equipment and specialized software for use in remote medical examinations have been developed. Objective examination is carried out by the method of digital biomicroscopy of the eye, which allows you to analyze the parameters of pupillary reactions, the size of the palpebral fissure, the volume of eye movement, the frequency of blinking movements, the degree of redness of the eyeballs, the presence of nystagmus, the state of the surrounding eye tissues. Also in the hardware part of the complex there are sensors for detecting and measuring the level of concentration of ethyl alcohol vapors. Contact digital measurement of body temperature is performed with a sensor in contact with the forehead area during the examination. There is an additional program for the identification of the examined person by the iris of the eye. The use of digital methods in the medical examination system increases efficiency through the use of objective examination methods.

Automated complex for remote medical examination

Elements of telemedicine are increasingly being introduced into all spheres of medical services for the population. One promising example is automated systems for remote pre-trip medical examination of drivers. However, most of the telemedicine systems used only control the basic parameters of the body provided for by law. An urgent task is to create methods and tools for a comprehensive assessment of the driver's health based on processing of a set of biomedical signals and data that allow tracking the dynamics of the functional and psychoemotional status. Purpose – development of an automated system for remote medical examination of drivers, which allows not only to monitor basic health indicators for admission to a flight, but also to track indirect signs of fatigue, stress and exposure to psychoactive substances that can provoke inappropriate behavior on the road. A microprocessor-based system for collecting and preliminary processing of information received from a set of biomedical sensors has been developed. The original modules for measuring blood pressure and pulse, non-contact temperature measurement and tremor parameters evaluating have been implemented. The set of diagnostic procedures for the pre-trip examination is implemented in a unified cycle, which ensures the complexity of the interpretation of the results. The developed automated complex and the hardware and software tools included in it can be used to conduct pre-trip examinations of drivers of public and special transport, providing an increase in the diagnostic efficiency of identifying signs that are risk factors when the driver is allowed to work.

Smart Health Monitoring System for Pregnant Women

For pregnant ladies, various health parameters like ECG, blood pressure, SPO2 (stamina), respiration rate, blood glucose level, body temperature, etc. need to be monitored regularly and must be in a normal level. If the mother’ health become critical then definitely it will affect the baby. Hence it is recommended by physicians to do routine checkups at primary stages of pregnancy. But in rural areas, due to unavailability of well-equipped hospital facilities and also people don’t have awareness about their health which yields in abnormalities or creates critical issues. The presented paper summarizes, the available system and their strength and weakness and challenges in health monitoring of pregnant women. The proposed system is used to analyze various pregnancy biological factors like heart rate of pregnant women & Fetus, changes in blood pressure, blood glucose level, temperature, and weight. The proposed system will help for the rapid decision making and treatment through the high speed medical data transfer to the physicians over mobile for consulting and remote medical examinations. These values are transferred to database, to upload on server which can be monitored from any corner of the world.

Selected Topics in Design and Application of a Robot for Remote Medical Examination with the Use of Ultrasonography and Ascultation from the Perspective of the REMEDI Project

Selected Topics in Design and Application of a Robot for Remote Medical Examination with the Use of Ultrasonography and Ascultation from the Perspective of the REMEDI Project

Estado actual de la telemedicina: una revisión de literatura


 La telemedicina es una tecnología que facilita la mediación a distan-cia entre el paciente y el personal médico. Aunque los desarrollos en este campo son más evidentes en Europa y Norte América, en América Latina tendría un mayor impacto, dadas las condiciones geográficas y socioeconómicas de la población. En ese orden de ideas, el propósito de este artículo es elaborar una revisión de lite-ratura acerca de los usos, desarrollos e innovaciones tecnológicas realizadas en torno al campo de la telemedicina, donde el empleo de esta tecnología facilita las consultas médicas a distancia y permite llevar los servicios de salud a la población rural, tanto en los países desarrollados, como los que se encuentran en vías de desarrollo.