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After the January earthquake in Haiti, many people were left under extremely bad health conditions, with little or no health care being at their service. Haiti is a poor country, and with a natural disaster like that occurring, medical treatment for those that required it to the minimal extent was rare, let alone for the people that needed to be operated upon (such as surgical patients). The solution that some United States officials found after attempting to help Haiti with this issue was telehealth, better known as telemedicine; telemedicine was initially used for space astronauts back in the 1960s. In the situation with Haiti however (better known as "real-time"), it essentially involves a video-conference between a patient and a health professional and/or doctor in a different location (often times in hospitals or offices). Also during certain operations however, a doctor at the scene will be conferencing with a specialist at a different geographical location through the uses and benefits of telemedicine. The main IT system involved in this situation with telemedicine is satellite connections. A satellite communication system requires a satellite to function. Thus, a satellite is in high orbit over the Earth (stationary or geosynchronous, which means that the speed of the satellite is complementary to the speed of the rotaion of the Earth, thus it will always remain above the same spot). A satellite dish on Earth is then directed at the satellite, and all the signals (voice & data information, television signals, etc.) are transmitted on an uplink. The satellite itself (while still in orbit outer space) has a receiving antenna mechanism which is able to capture the incoming signals towards it and is able to diverge them through an amplifying network.

continued.... After this process, it then re-transmits the signals to the designated receivers (these signals are waves that go upon a certain frequency). Depending on what the frequencies are, when it comes to telemedicine, the frequencies are repudicated for an instance, and the digital data is then linked to set receivers. These data packets are routed through satellite, which makes the end (whether it is a phone call or the merging of voice and data transmission such as video-conferencing) come along. The satellite may be compared to a ground-based signal, in which the signal points upward and it is later reflected down back at the user/client. Therefore, with sufficient bandwidth, Haiti is running on high-speed Internet access. As a result of this IT system involved (as well as the use of telemedicine), social and ethical issues emerge. The use of such IT devices and systems such as satellite linkage and telemedicine through video-conferencing was not present in Haiti even before the earthquake. However, with the aid of other countries, more advanced form of health care came into view. This is a breakthrough from the digital divide, where Haiti was not able to provide proper medical care for its citizens. Another issue that comes into play (vexing from the digital divide) is globalization. Doctors on the seen are able to provide their patients with the best care by either consulting a specialist from a remote area far away, or the patients who require health care have video-conferences with doctors in order to discuss health related issues. This breaks down the barrier in which Haitians were facing with little or no medical support.

There are many patients that lack the specific care because of natural disasters, such as tsunamis and earthquakes, even blizzards. Companies such as polycom and Tandberg both provide this service that was originally meant for bigger businesses, and now these new markets are being serviced by the companies first made for these businesses. As a matter of fact, even telepsychiatry is also offered, or mental health care is also offered. If someone is from afar and needs care right away, then they will get it that easy, instead of waiting for days, they can wait have access to doctor help right away.

"Mrs Watt's local hospital is in Fraserburgh. She was seen by a local doctor who then decided to link up by video with specialists at the A&E department in Aberdeen. After assessing the injury they decided Mrs Watt needed to travel the 40 miles into the city to have the break properly reset and plastered. Mr Ferguson explained that the use of telemedicine had proved crucial. "All the local casualty departments throughout NHS Grampian have got a video conferencing link through to us. "Already today we've seen more than 20 patients that way and only three have had to come into Aberdeen. "All the rest have been treated locally which of course saves people travelling in this weather and saves time and resources here.""

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"For over a decade now, health care experts have been promoting telemedicine, or the use of satellite technology, video conferencing and data transfer through phones and the Internet, to connect doctors to patients in far-flung locales. But are doctors ready for this form of technology?"

Please read this news item and add a thoughtful comment that shows how this article helps you think differently about the Case Study for 2010

Can these cases be relevant to our class case study?

After hurricane Karl hit and practically flooded all of Veracruz, Mexico, many people were left wounded. This article talks about three specific patients who had "hard to heal ulcers" or the stakeholders. Along with the patients, the other stakeholders in this case were the specialists reviewing the information sent to them and the people present in the same location as the4 patient. These patients were taken to PEMEX General Hospital in Veracruz. Pictures were taken using digital cameras and were small enough to be sent to through email to specialists in Mexico City. There, they analyzed the high quality pictures and were able to give a diagnostic. An issue could be security since these files are being sent through regular email as clearly stated in the article " small enough to be sent via regular email ". If there isnt a specific network that these health centers are using it might not be delivered without having someone have looked at it before. The IT system(s) in this case were the digital camera used to take pictures of the patients injuries. The computer was also another system as well as cameras used for video conferencing. By having been able use telemedicine, it saved the energy of the patients having to go to another state just to be treated.

This is not a new item, it is an abstract of a medical journal article.