Video Teleconferencing Research Articles

Clinical Supervision of a Client With Traumatic Brain Injury in a Host Home Placement Using Video Teleconferencing

To examine the use of video teleconferencing (VTC) technology in the supervision of a 41-year-old man with expressive aphasia during community reintegration in a host home setting 3 years after severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Using a 3-month A-B-A design, weekly VTC meetings were substituted for in-person visits by the client's case coordinator. Weekly ratings of satisfaction with the medium of communication used (VTC vs in-person meetings) by each participant. The client and the case coordinator found VTC meetings to be as effective as face-to-face supervision visits for communication of clinical concerns and problems. The client reported feeling self-conscious about having the equipment in his living space because of privacy concerns. The mentor reported that VTC helped focus on questions and answers in goal-oriented conversations, was easier to schedule, and had the advantage of not requiring preparation of the house for in-person meetings. Reported disadvantages included feelings of camera shyness as well as impatience due to slow video transmission speed at times. The case coordinator also found VTC meetings easier to schedule and reported savings in travel time and expense. Reported disadvantages included reduced transmission quality and speed on some occasions. The cost break-even point for VTC was reached at 1 year with substitution of VTC sessions for half of weekly case coordinator home visits and 2 home visits per year by the coordinator's supervisor. VTC might be liberally substituted for in-person supervision visits in the context of an ongoing clinical relationship during community reintegration following TBI.

Effect of communication media on developmental relationships: Self-reported and observed behaviors

This study examined the effect of four communication modes (computer-based video teleconferencing, computer-based electronic chat, telephone, and face-to-face) on developmental interactions between dyads; specifically on the transmission of psychosocial versus instrumental information. The dyads consisted of undergraduates at a southeastern university. One member of the dyad was an incoming first year student; the second member was an upper division student who served as a developmental coach. The study was experimental in design, which controlled the amount of interaction, the frequency of interaction, and prior acquaintanceship of the dyadic pair. The small amount of variance attributable to communication mode suggests that people matter more than the machines. Specifically, in terms of implementing non-face-to-face developmental programs, it might be more useful to focus on reducing the variability in the coaches’ behaviors through selection or training, than to focus on communication mode. Additionally, independent observers watched and rated the dyadic interactions to provide a third point of view. There was very little overlap between coach and trainee perceptions, although there was considerable agreement between the raters’ and coaches’ ratings.

Psychiatrists, Patients Praise Benefits of Telehealth

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Community NewsFull AccessPsychiatrists, Patients Praise Benefits of TelehealthAaron LevinAaron LevinSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:2 May 2008https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.43.9.0013aUniversity of New Mexico psychiatrists use computer-based video teleconferencing systems to overcome the barriers of distance and provider scarcity in a state where patients might otherwise need to drive hours to see a doctor, explained child and adolescent psychiatrist Avi kreichman, M.D., an assistant professor and the telehealth specialist at the Center for Rural and Community Behavioral Health in Albuquerque (see Original article: Rural Psychiatry Isn't Easy, but Rewards are Ample).An Internet-based system carries one-on-one or group conferences with up to 40 remote sites, although psychiatry usually uses only 10, explained technology manager Wesley Pak, M.B.A., recently. Sessions can be recorded and encrypted to meet Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act standards. The big projection screen at the front of the room is divided into as many small screens as there are participants. When someone speaks, a voice-actuated system enlarges that person's screen area.“Patients like it because it saves them money and hours of travel time,” said Pak.There have been two traditional ways to use telehealth, said Kreichman, sitting in the large studio a few blocks from the university's Health Sciences Center. Specialists either offered consulting services to a primary care provider, or they assessed and treated patients who came to the remote site, sometimes with a local clinician.“We follow those models, but we also help train primary care providers in rural areas, as well as teachers, school psychologists, nurses, parents, children, and health assistants at schools,” he said. He has even trained school security guards, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers in aspects of drug addiction or other topics.These may be didactic programs or case conferences followed up with phone calls or e-mails.One morning in March, Kreichman opened a teleconference with counselors at a rural high school concerned about a rash of teenage pregnancies. The discussion ranged from parent-child relationships to the pregnant girls' emotional states. Kreichman reinforced efforts by the adults to support the teenagers and get them prenatal care and appropriate counseling.Later one participant expressed her frustration at the way teen pregnancy was considered only as an individual matter by local school authorities, rather than one involving broader social and cultural attitudes. Kreichman's knowledge of health systems led him to offer her specific suggestions for approaching state education officials to find some solutions.Another faculty member, assistant professor Florian Birkmayer, M.D., an addiction specialist, spends one day a week on camera, half for the Indian Health Service and half for a clinic in Carlsbad, N.M.The emotional connection can be as intense using telehealth as it is in person, said Birkmayer, although he's noticed one interesting phenomenon about telepsychiatry. “At Carlsbad, when I start with a new patient in person, [the patient is] often reluctant to move to telehealth services, but if we begin with telehealth, it goes much more easily,” he said. ▪ Original article: ISSUES NewArchived

Child and Adolescent Telepsychiatry: Utilization And Satisfaction

Access to psychiatric care for children and adolescents is limited outside of urban areas. Telepsychiatry provides one mechanism to bring needed services to youth. This investigation examines whether telepsychiatry could be successful in providing needed services. Using interactive video teleconferencing at 384 kilobits per second, psychiatrists based at a regional childrens hospital provided consultation and management services to patients at 4 sites across Washington State located 75150 miles from the childrens hospital. Twelve-month review of billing records provided utilization data. Surveys of parents satisfaction over 12 months examined whether parents would accept and be satisfied with the care rendered to their children. Over the study year, 387 telepsychiatry visits were provided to 172 youth 221 years old with a mean of 2.25 visits per patient. The demographic and diagnostic profile of this sample was consistent with usual outpatient mental health samples. Parents endorsed high satisfaction with their childrens telepsychiatric care, with an indication of increasing satisfaction upon return appointments. Parents demonstrated some differential satisfaction, tending to higher satisfaction with their school-aged childrens care and lower satisfaction with their adolescents care. Telepsychiatry offered through a regional childrens hospital was well utilized and parents were highly satisfied with their childrens care. The stage is now set for integrating telepsychiatry into a system of care that meets youths overall needs and for controlled studies demonstrating the efficacy of telepsychiatry with youth.

Ways to strengthen research capacity in developing countries: effectiveness of a research training workshop in Pakistan

Developing countries are currently facing the burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases. Physician-scientists, trained in patient care and research skills, are crucial in performing cutting-edge clinical research in developing countries. A major, unmet challenge has been lack of local expertise and the increasing problem of 'brain drain'. The objective of this study was to present and assess a model of research training for healthcare professionals in Pakistan in order to increase research skills. A 9-day research training workshop was offered to healthcare professionals in Pakistan using face-to-face (F2F) and video-teleconferencing (VTC) methods. In total, 38 F2F and 18 VTC participants were included in the workshop, which was conducted by research faculty from the University of Pittsburgh. The study measured short- and long-term effectiveness of research training. The training included courses in basic epidemiology, biostatistics, genetic epidemiology and international health. A significant improvement in post-test scores was seen in both the F2F and VTC groups (P<0.001). In the F2F group, mean scores increased from 11.13 (pre-test) to 15.08 (post-test 1), and in the VTC group, mean scores increased from 10.67 (pre-test) to 13.22 (post-test 1). Two-sample t-tests indicated that these results were statistically significant (P<0.001). Two-way repeated measure analysis of variance in both groups showed significant changes in mean scores over time (P<0.001). This model for training physicians in public health by providing in-house research training can be used to strengthen local capacity and reduce increasing problems of 'brain drain'.

&lt;i&gt;Commemorating the Past, Celebrating the Present, Creating the Future: Papers in Observance of the 50th Anniversary of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services&lt;/i&gt; (review)

Reviewed by: Commemorating the Past, Celebrating the Present, Creating the Future: Papers in Observance of the 50th Anniversary of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services Ellen Cunningham-Kruppa Commemorating the Past, Celebrating the Present, Creating the Future: Papers in Observance of the 50th Anniversary of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services. Edited by Pamela Bluh. Chicago: American Library Association, 2007. 207 pp. $38.50. ISBN 978-0838-98431-4. Commemorating the Past, Celebrating the Present, Creating the Future witnesses the rapid and complex evolution libraries and librarianship have experienced in the past half-century. Most particularly, the book focuses on the fifty-year history (1957–2007) of the American Library Association’s Resources and Technical Services Division (RTSD), which in 1989 underwent a name change to become the Association of Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS). The library profession has published little about its recent history, likely because librarians are fully occupied creating and living out history. Commemorating is a welcome and important contribution to the field’s historical documentation. Miriam Palm’s role as compiler of Commemorating is evinced in the excellent array of selected authors, well known in the field for their leadership and [End Page 487] thoughtfulness. The consistency of each essay’s structure and flow speaks to Palm’s careful attention to the monograph’s intellectual construction. Pamela Bluh, known for her significant and longtime contributions to the development of best practices in serials librarianship, shines as editor of this technically well produced publication. Commemorating opens with an essay entitled “RTSD and ALCTS: A Personal History through the Eyes of Our Leaders” by Palm and Brian Schottlaender of the University of California, San Diego, that briefly charts the historical development of RTSD and its organizational structure, headquarters staffing, and publications. The essay includes remembrances of seventeen past RTSD/ALCTS presidents, executive deputy directors, and newsletter editors, including David Weber, Karen Horny, Alex Bloss, Jennifer Younger, and Sheila Intner—professionals at a range of points in their career, and some now retired. These leaders reflect on how they became involved in the field, noting early role models, mentors, and stars of the profession as well as personal career challenges and the changes in technical services librarianship and RTSD/ALCTS. What results is a richly personal accounting by the leaders in technical services librarianship of the most exciting and complex years in the history of cataloging, acquisitions, collection development, and preservation. Recollections range from that of luminary David Weber, former director of Stanford University Libraries, recalling his father, who was a professor of English, and his early influence on Weber’s education in bibliography, to Judith Canaan noting the highlight of her work during the early 1980s in RTSD as organizer of ALA’s first video teleconference, which allowed librarians around the country to “attend” an ALA annual conference. For the library profession the long list of noted mentors and role models represents nothing less than its own Hollywood Walk of Fame. The greater part of the 207 pages of Commemorating comprises substantial papers on the topics of technical services education and the historical development of AACR2, collection development, serials identification and control, ALCTS’s international role, and preservation. Although the papers are primarily historical in nature, some are more reflective of the authors’ personal roles in events, while others include proactive elements. Michael Gorman’s “The True History of AACR2” is a beautiful, often sardonic firsthand description of how the drafting of AACR2 unrolled both in language and structure (and cast of characters). Particularly personal and amusing is Gorman’s account of his role as an author of AACR2. In the pre–word processing days of 1971 Gorman did not know how to type, so he produced more than 511 pages of handwritten text (while serenaded by the songs of the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt), which he then took to an office in the British Library “to be typed, corrected, amended, and otherwise done over until they were ready to be copied and circulated to the interested parties” (69). Peggy Johnson’s essay on the historical evolution of collection development recalls that the term “collection development” was not introduced until 1977, when during...

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Sustainability of Telepsychiatry for Children and Adolescents

This study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and sustainability of a telepsychiatry service for children and adolescents living in nonmetropolitan communities. Using high-bandwidth interactive video teleconferencing, psychiatrists at a children's hospital provided care to patients of primary care physicians at four nonmetropolitan sites. Review of one-year utilization provided feasibility data. Surveys of referring physicians examined acceptability of telepsychiatry. Reimbursement records provided sustainability data. Overall, 387 sessions were provided to 172 youths (mean=2.25 sessions) whose clinical profiles were representative of national samples. Referring providers endorsed high satisfaction with telepsychiatric care, although pediatricians were consistently more satisfied than family physicians. Sustainability of telepsychiatry is challenged by infrastructure costs and low reimbursement by public payers. Telepsychiatry is a feasible and acceptable approach to providing psychiatric services to youths in underserved communities. Sustainability will depend on developing financial alternatives to fee-for-service, especially if caseloads emphasize publicly funded programs.

Interactive multi-site video teleconferencing as a means to increase surgical resident and staff participation at core teaching conferences

Interactive multi-site video teleconferencing as a means to increase surgical resident and staff participation at core teaching conferences

A Novel Method of Language Modeling for Automatic Captioning in TC Video Teleconferencing

We are developing an automatic captioning system for teleconsultation video teleconferencing (TC-VTC) in telemedicine, based on large vocabulary conversational speech recognition. In TC-VTC, doctors' speech contains a large number of infrequently used medical terms in spontaneous styles. Due to insufficiency of data, we adopted mixture language modeling, with models trained from several datasets of medical and nonmedical domains. This paper proposes novel modeling and estimation methods for the mixture language model (LM). Component LMs are trained from individual datasets, with class n-gram LMs trained from in-domain datasets and word n-gram LMs trained from out-of-domain datasets, and they are interpolated into a mixture LM. For class LMs, semantic categories are used for class definition on medical terms, names, and digits. The interpolation weights of a mixture LM are estimated by a greedy algorithm of forward weight adjustment (FWA). The proposed mixing of in-domain class LMs and out-of-domain word LMs, the semantic definitions of word classes, as well as the weight-estimation algorithm of FWA are effective on the TC-VTC task. As compared with using mixtures of word LMs with weights estimated by the conventional expectation-maximization algorithm, the proposed methods led to a 21% reduction of perplexity on test sets of five doctors, which translated into improvements of captioning accuracy.

Immersive Video Teleconferencing with User-Steerable Views

Existing video teleconferencing techniques suffer from limited field of view, low resolution, and fixed viewpoint. We present a set of novel techniques to overcome these limitations. Based on the light field rendering concept, we utilize an array of cameras to capture the participant(s) from multiple view angles. Based on either assumed or estimated scene geometry, these images are assembled to create a high-resolution seamless image from a user-controllable viewpoint. Two different camera configurations, one dense and one sparse, are presented; the dense format is optimized for high-fidelity view synthesis while the sparse configuration is for expanded viewing volume. For the dense configuration, we provide a detailed analysis on the number of camera images required. For the sparse configuration, we present a robust technique to estimate an approximation of the scene geometry to provide smooth transition when the viewpoint is changed.The novelty of our approach is that it allows the users to electronically steer the viewpoint in real time for a live scene. Therefore it can be used in 3D teleconferencing systems to generate stereoscopic views, or in group teleconferencing to provide virtual camera views that minimize the overall perspective distortions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach with a point-to-point teleconferencing system distributed in several locations across the continental United States.

From ITU-T G.722.1 to ITU-T G.722.1 Annex C: A New Low-Complexity 14kHz Bandwidth Audio Coding Standard

This paper describes the low-complexity 14kHz bandwidth audio coding algorithm which has been recently standardized by ITU-T as Recommendation G.722.1 Annex C (“G.722.1C”). The algorithm is an extension to ITU-T Recommendation G.722.1 and a doubled form of the G.722.1 algorithm to permit 14 kHz audio bandwidth using a 32 kHz audio sample rate, at 24, 32, and 48 kbit/s. The G. 722.1C codec features very high audio quality, extremely low computational complexity, and low algorithmic delay compared to other state-of-the-art audio coding algorithms. This codec is suitable for use in video conferencing and teleconferencing, and Internet streaming applications as well as a general-purpose 14 kHz audio codec. Subjective test results from the Characterization phase of G 722.1C are also presented in the paper.

Integrating Innovative Technologies Into a Psychiatric Pharmacy Clerkship Rotation

One quarter of the US population suffers from a diagnosable mental illness, and society is becoming more educated about these diseases and the medications used to treat them. Inasmuch as pharmacy is considered one of the most trusted professions, it is imperative that pharmacists have a good understanding of psychotropics to properly counsel their patients. However, psychopharmacology is often given disproportionate coverage in most pharmacy curricula considering the frequency of these illnesses. For future pharmacists to gain much-needed knowledge, a psychiatric pharmacy clerkship rotation can be instrumental in developing competence through patient consultations and in performing drug regimen reviews. Integrating simple technologies into a clerkship can greatly reduce the burden on the preceptor and provide a consistent and fulfilling experience for the student. Educators in nursing and medicine have used various technologies with much success, albeit in mostly a classroom environment. Applicable media include e-mail, the Internet, personal digital assistants, CD-ROM programs, and video teleconferencing. Various basic and advanced techniques, such as making monthly calendars and using CD-ROM media to free Web-based video teleconferencing, are described in detail to assist preceptors in using these technologies for their rotations. The future potential of the addition of technology into education is only limited by one's imagination and the tools available.

On Generalized Processor Sharing With Regulated Multimedia Traffic Flows

Multimedia traffic is becoming an increasing portion of today's Internet traffic due to the flourishing of multimedia applications such as music/video streaming, video teleconferencing, IP telephony, and distance learning. In this paper, we study the problem of supporting multimedia traffic using a generalized processor sharing (GPS) server. By examining the sample path behavior and exploring the inherent feasible ordering of the classes, we derive tight performance bounds on backlog and delay for regulated multimedia traffic classes in a GPS system. Our approach is quite general since we do not assume any arriving traffic model or any specific traffic regulator, other than that each traffic flow is deterministically regulated. Such deterministic regulators, as well as approximations of the GPS server, are widely implemented in commercial routers. In addition, our analysis is very accurate and achieves a high utilization of the server capacity, since we exploit the independence among the traffic flows for higher statistical multiplexing gains. Numerical examples and simulation results are presented to demonstrate the accuracy and merits of our approach, which is practical and well suited for supporting multimedia applications in the Internet

Access Grid Nodes in Field Research

This article reports fieldwork with an Access Grid Node (‘AGN’) device, analogous to video teleconferencing but based on grid computational technology. The device enables research respondents to be interviewed at remote sites, with potential savings in travelling to conduct fieldwork. Practical, methodological and analytic aspects of the experimental fieldwork are reported. Findings include some distinctive features of AGN interviews relative to co-present interviews; overall, there were some benefits and some disadvantages to communication. The article concludes that this new research interview mode shows potential, particularly once the difficulties associated with a new research technology are resolved.

HiSeasNet: Oceanographic ships join the grid

HiSeasNet, the communications network providing full‐period Internet access for the U.S. academic ocean research fleet, is an enabling technology that is changing the way oceanography is done in the 21st century. With the installation in March 2006 of a system on the research vessel (R/V) Seward Johnson and the planned installation on the R/V Marcus Langseth later this year, all but two of the Universities National Oceanographic Laboratories System (UNOLS) fleet of large/global and intermediate/ocean vessels will be equipped with HiSeasNet capability.HiSeasNet is a full‐service Internet Protocol (IP) satellite network utilizing Cisco technology. In addition to the familiar IP services—such as e‐mail, telnet, ssh, rlogin, Web traffic, and ftp—HiSeasNet can move real‐time audio and video traffic across the satellite links. Phone systems onboard research ships can be connected to their home institutions' phone exchanges. Video teleconferencing with the current 96 kilobits per second circuits supports compressed video frame rates at about 10 frames per second, allowing for effective conversations and demonstrations with ship‐to‐shore video.

Traffic Analysis in the Intelligent Network

The fundamental aspect of the intelligent network (IN) is the ability to support the creation of services for the end customer in a rapid manner. Traditional telephone services are not growing much, and to survive in the marketplace, many services providers are looking for new services that will meet the customers’ needs and bring in revenue. The advanced IN network provides the multimedia communications include the videophone, video teleconferencing and remote access to multimedia databases. The IN network basic call model is done. This model describes the operations that the service switching point (SSP) and service control point (SCP) executes. The two type data packets of each call arrive according to a Poisson process with rates λ1, λ2 and are served by two separate channels with exponentially distributed transmission time. Using the Markov chains exact analytical queueing model was created for IN network call service process. The Markov chains state transition diagram is taken. A careful IN network performance analysis effort is taken by accurate analytical model. IN network queueing performance measures such as mean queue lengths, the mean waiting times, call loss probabilities in finite buffers system is taken. An exact system analytic model is very complicated when the buffer sizes in SSP and SCP are large, because Markov chains has a large number of states and more general study of system may be achieved via simulation. Ill. 6, bibl. 14 (in English; summaries in Lithuanian, English and Russian).

CE FEATURE Adolescent Alcohol and Substance Abuse in Rural Areas

In the past decade, adolescent alcohol and substance abuse has grown significantly as a problem for rural areas. Deficits in adolescent alcohol and substance abuse treatment have predictably contributed to this phenomenon. As a solution to these deficits, videoteleconferencing (VTC) creates an opportunity for rural communities to increase the accessibility and quality of alcohol and substance abuse treatment. Important issues related to the development and use of this technology exist. Advanced practice nurses can shape nursing's contribution to VTC services as these services expand.

Regression Video Traffic Models in Broadband Networks

Recently, there has been significant progress towards the deployment of broadband integrated services digital networks capable of flexibly supporting digital video technologies. Digital video such as video on demand, video teleconferencing, video telephony, and broadcast HDTV will constitute a major traffic component of these networks. Statistical analysis and performance modeling of various types of video traffic are required to estimate network resources and predict the behavior of network under various conditions. For over a decade, there has been an enormous amount of interest and research in traffic modeling of compressed variable-bit-rate (VBR) video. An important class of video models that has received much attention lately is regression models. This paper presents a survey of state of the art of regression traffic studies that have been proposed in the literature to model a variety of video applications. The video models will be classified into two classes: teleconference video, and full motion video. In each class, we will highlight the main features, describe the underlying model, and examine the advantages and limitations. Where appropriate, we also show some results of the statistical properties and the ability of the model to predict the queuing performance of a single and multiplexed video sequence.

Telehealth Brain Injury Training for Rural Behavioral Health Generalists: Supporting and Enhancing Rural Service Delivery Networks.

Rural psychologists are frontline primary behavioral health care providers for nearly 60 million Americans, but they face limited access to peer consultation and continuing education. This article describes a program thatmatched 70 rehabilitation inpatients who had new brain injury with rural clinicians from patients' home communities. Neuropsychologists provided one-on-one training for clinicians through telehealth video teleconferencing. Clinicians showed gains in brain injury knowledge, and clients rated trained providers higher than untrained providers. Families seeking brain injury services can connect with these trained rural providers through a Web site, which receives more than 800 hits per month. Telehealth offers potential for rural clinicians to receive support, reduce professional isolation, gain working knowledge of specialty conditions, and deliver high-quality services for their rural clients.

Comparison of classroom-based vs. distributive learning-based 12-lead ECG training

Introduction: Providing emergency medical services (EMS) requires significant resources, including the cost of paramedic training, certification, and maintenance of competencies. Currently, no published research examines the cost and performance effectiveness of Web-based training vs. video teleconferencing-based training vs. traditional classroom-based training methods for paramedics. Hypothesis: Paramedics trained in local, remote, and Web-based groups will have similar rates of successful completion of 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) training. The Web-based training group will be the most cost-effective method of conducting 12-lead ECG training. Methods: The 12-lead ECG course was taught to all paramedics ( N = 63) employed by a county EMS system in southwestern Ontario, Canada. The paramedics were placed into one of three groups: local, remote, and Web-based. The local group ( n = 17) received all training in a direct-teaching classroom format. The remote group ( n = 18) received training (lecture and skills) via video teleconferencing technology. The Web-based group ( n = 21) received training via Web-based learning. The three groups followed the same course schedule, material, slides/presentations, and practice cases. A pilot group of paramedics ( n = 7) was used to gauge material's depth and teaching times. Independent-samples t-test was used to compare the rates of completion (dependent variable) of the three groups (local, remote, and Web). Results: The local ( n = 17) and remote ( n = 18) groups had a 100% successful completion of the 12-lead training program. The Web-based group ( n = 21) had a non-completion rate of 19% ( n = 4; p = 0.042). The mean costs per student were $300 in the local group, $238 in the remote group, and $200 in the Web-based group. However, after adjusting for retraining, the mean cost per student in the Web-based group was $250. Conclusion: The cost of paramedic training, certification, and maintenance of competence requires a significant amount of resources. Each of the three methods used in this study has distinctive strengths and limitations. In this study, we identified a limitation of the Web-based training method for the introduction of a new procedure.