Use Of Innovative Mobile Telehealth Technology To Enable A New Service Delivery Solution For Dysphagia Management
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$207,231.00
Summary
Dysphagia, the term used to describe a swallowing difficulty, affects up to 30% of people over 65 years of age. Speech pathologists are responsible for diagnosing and managing dysphagia, however there is a shortfall between the number of clinicians available and the large number of individuals with this condition. The study aims to validate a way to assess dysphagia using telehealth, to increase access to speech pathology services particularly for patients in rural health settings.
Validation Of Cognitive Assessments Using Telecommunication
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$257,261.00
Summary
This project will assess the use of video conferencing to enable geriatricians to assess and diagnose memory problems including dementia. Establishing the reliability of diagnosis and other related assessments, and identifying which functions can confidently be carried out via video conferencing, is one step towards extending the availability of this service to rural and remote communities. Access to accurate diagnosis and assessment of cognitive impairment is an important step in the management ....This project will assess the use of video conferencing to enable geriatricians to assess and diagnose memory problems including dementia. Establishing the reliability of diagnosis and other related assessments, and identifying which functions can confidently be carried out via video conferencing, is one step towards extending the availability of this service to rural and remote communities. Access to accurate diagnosis and assessment of cognitive impairment is an important step in the management of dementia, Alzheimer's disease and other associated disorders. High level expertise, such as that offered by a specialist Memory Disorder Clinic, is particularly important if there is uncertainty about the diagnosis, or if the prescription of cholinesterase inhibitors and associated medications are being considered. It was estimated that in 2005 there were 52,000 people diagnosed with dementia in Australia and by 2050 there will be an additional 175,000 cases each year. For the vast number of people who will be affected by dementia, early detection and intervention will play an important role in their healthy ageing experience. Access to accurate diagnosis and advice as a function of detection and intervention is often not as freely available to people in rural areas. The experience of travelling long distances for assessment can be detrimental to the emotional well being of people who may have dementia. Access to geriatrician services in a local rural area is an important element to maintaining their sense of well being. Geriatricians are not commonly available in rural areas which means current access to specialist diagnosis and assessment is either a missed opportunity or involves extensive travel. Internationally, there are many individuals living in remote regions with no access to geriatrician services, or reliable cognitive assessment. This study will inform similar experiments in other cultural settings.Read moreRead less
Improved Support For Regional And Remote Paediatric Oncology Families: A Randomised Controlled Trial Of Videotelephony
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$304,843.00
Summary
Childhood cancer presents a major life stressor for the entire family. Significant changes to the everyday lives of families, practically, socially and emotionally cause major disruption. There is evidence that this disruption results in isolation and poor communication between family members, anxiety, low self-esteem and school problems for siblings and anxiety, post-traumatic stress symptoms and risk of depression for parents. Providing ongoing support to these families is an essential part of ....Childhood cancer presents a major life stressor for the entire family. Significant changes to the everyday lives of families, practically, socially and emotionally cause major disruption. There is evidence that this disruption results in isolation and poor communication between family members, anxiety, low self-esteem and school problems for siblings and anxiety, post-traumatic stress symptoms and risk of depression for parents. Providing ongoing support to these families is an essential part of care. The Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) Paediatric Oncology Service in Brisbane is the major tertiary paediatric referral centre for Queensland, northern New South Wales and the southwest Pacific. A multidisciplinary team of medical, nursing, and allied health professionals provides care and support to children with cancer, as well as their families. Each year around 100 newly diagnosed patients are cared for. Around 60% of the families cared for by the service live in regional and remote areas. There are a number of challenges which inhibit the equitable provision of specialist health services to these areas including availability of health care professionals and accessibility due to distance, time, cost and transport. For paediatric oncology families, opportunities to receive support are limited. One possible solution is the use of online support mechanisms, such as videotelephony, to facilitate the provision of much needed support to patients, parents, siblings and the family as a whole. The objective of this research is to see if videotelephony can be used to support regional and remote families of the Royal Children's Hospital Paediatric Oncology Service providing indizidualised communication, education, counselling and monitoring. This will present a new and innovative use of videophone technology as well as a new method for supporting regional and remote oncology patients and their families.Read moreRead less
Telerehabilitation: Assessing Acquired Neurogenic Communication Disorders Online.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$172,446.00
Summary
People who suffer brain damage as a result of a stroke, head injury, or a disorder such as Parkinson's disease frequently develop difficulty in either speaking, writing, reading, or understanding the spoken language. As a result, the person's ability to communicate with his or her family and friends, and the community in general is seriously affected. Individuals who experience these speech and language disorders are treated by a speech pathologist who focuses on improving the person's ability t ....People who suffer brain damage as a result of a stroke, head injury, or a disorder such as Parkinson's disease frequently develop difficulty in either speaking, writing, reading, or understanding the spoken language. As a result, the person's ability to communicate with his or her family and friends, and the community in general is seriously affected. Individuals who experience these speech and language disorders are treated by a speech pathologist who focuses on improving the person's ability to communicate. The treatment of these disorders is frequently long-term requiring speech pathology management beyond existing hospital care. For many people with these communication disorders, accessing speech pathology services after their discharge from hospital may be very difficult due to their physical difficulties, the distances they are required to travel, and the limited availability of speech pathologists in their local community. This project aims to overcome these access issues through the development of a telerehabilitation system that will enable speech pathologists to assess people with these speech and language difficulties across the Internet using videoconferencing. It is intended that this research will ultimately enable people with these types of communication difficulties to be assessed and treated within their own home or local community.Read moreRead less
A Telehealth Application For The Assessment And Treatment Of Disordered Speech In Parkinson's Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$362,875.00
Summary
People with Parkinson's disease frequently develop soft, indistinct, and monotonous speech that significantly affects the person's ability to communicate with his or her family, and the community in general. To date, the most effective treatment for the speech disturbance seen in persons with Parkinson's disease is the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT ) program that focuses on improving the individual's vocal loudness and quality, resulting in improved speech intelligibility. For many people ....People with Parkinson's disease frequently develop soft, indistinct, and monotonous speech that significantly affects the person's ability to communicate with his or her family, and the community in general. To date, the most effective treatment for the speech disturbance seen in persons with Parkinson's disease is the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT ) program that focuses on improving the individual's vocal loudness and quality, resulting in improved speech intelligibility. For many people with this disease, accessing this effective treatment for their speech disorder is very difficult due to their physical disabilities, the distances they are required to travel, and the availability of speech pathologists. This project aims to overcome these access issues through the development of a telehealth system that will enable speech pathologists to assess and treat people with Parkinson's disease who have a speech disorder across the Internet using videoconferencing. It is intended that this research will ultimately enable people with Parkinson's disease to be treated within their own home or local community.Read moreRead less
Reliability Of An Online Geriatric Assessment Procedure
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$343,822.00
Summary
This study will examine the reliability, safety and cost of a novel new method of providing geriatrician assessment to older people in hospital. Nurses consult with the patient and enter their findings on a web-based software system that enables the geriatrician to review, report and make recommendations over the internet.
ONLINE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM TO PROVIDE SPECIALIST CARE TO RURAL, REMOTE AND UNDESERVED REGIONS
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$360,475.00
Summary
Our aim is to develop and validate an online health care system to link remote and rural health professionals, facilities and patients into an online community. The proposed online system will provide medical advice and diagnosis, consumer health care information services, support groups, information and distance education for those working in the health care as well as the community and assistance in the operational and medical decision-making process. Less expensive health care personnel shoul ....Our aim is to develop and validate an online health care system to link remote and rural health professionals, facilities and patients into an online community. The proposed online system will provide medical advice and diagnosis, consumer health care information services, support groups, information and distance education for those working in the health care as well as the community and assistance in the operational and medical decision-making process. Less expensive health care personnel should be able to use the system with little training in remote and rural areas. This project will generate knowledge about the practicality of low cost but highly effective e-health system. It will be easier to disseminate health care information and health evaluation processes to patients, doctors, nurses and other health care workers. It will also be possible to obtain information about image resolution, suitable compression algorithms and compression levels for different diseases pathologies.Read moreRead less
Development And Evaluation Of Teleophthalmic Systems For Screening Of Common Blinding Eye Diseases
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$263,918.00
Summary
Portable ophthalmic instruments will provide digital images for storage and telemetric transmission to a disease control centre. We will be assessing and developing new portable ophthalmic imaging instruments, and validating them for common blinding eye conditions. The aim is to assess the ability of various health personal to document glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, active trachoma, corneal scarring and cataract in rural screenings using digital imaging technology. A network of ophthalmologists ....Portable ophthalmic instruments will provide digital images for storage and telemetric transmission to a disease control centre. We will be assessing and developing new portable ophthalmic imaging instruments, and validating them for common blinding eye conditions. The aim is to assess the ability of various health personal to document glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, active trachoma, corneal scarring and cataract in rural screenings using digital imaging technology. A network of ophthalmologists, health department personnel and aboriginal health workers in Western Australia will be involved. The project will also examine the quality of images obtained by health workers with various levels of skills and compare this with conventional photographs currently obtained by the screening network. Finally, the project will demonstrate practicality of the large scale storage of digital images of patient eyes. Preliminary evaluations have been performed on our teleophthalmology system using different portable instruments namely a handheld fundus camera, slit-lamp and indirect ophthalmoscope. We have also tested our teleophthalmology system at the Dr. Soetomo Hospital (Airlangga University) in Surabaya, Indonesia. Images captured using the handheld fundus camera were successfully transmitted to Lions Eye Institute through satellite, mobile and Internet lines. This pilot project has been sponsored by the Western Australian Department of Trade and Commerce and Telstra.Read moreRead less