Kennedy Craig, Bowman Richard, Fariza Nor, Ackuaku Edith, Ntim-Amponsah Christine, Murdoch Ian
Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, UK.
J Telemed Telecare. 2006;12(2):88-91. doi: 10.1258/135763306776084356.
A Web-based service was set up to link subspecialist ophthalmologists with those seeking advice on particular clinical problems in ophthalmology. The service operated between countries, with centres in Malaysia, Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa and Gambia seeking advice from Moorfields Eye Hospital in the UK. It also operated within country, where a rural clinic in The Gambia sought advice from the central hospital on difficult cases or cases for possible referral. Provision of Web access and training in image capture and manipulation were undertaken in each participating centre. During the first 12 months, 132 cases were posted to the Website from five of the six centres participating. The rate of case referral rose to about 12-14 cases per month by the end of the study. Overall, 24% of referrals did not use images. In the first four months the response time was 13 days, and in the last four months it was three days. Most cases were answered with a single response from the specialist. The main problem was the amount of Internet down-time in each of the locations. The main benefit was safe and reliable access to specialist advice for practitioners.
设立了一项基于网络的服务，以便将眼科专科医生与那些就眼科特定临床问题寻求建议的人联系起来。该服务在不同国家之间开展，马来西亚、加纳、坦桑尼亚、南非和冈比亚的中心向英国的摩尔菲尔德眼科医院寻求建议。它也在国内开展，冈比亚的一家乡村诊所就疑难病例或可能需要转诊的病例向中心医院寻求建议。每个参与中心都提供了网络接入以及图像采集和处理方面的培训。在最初的12个月里，参与的六个中心中有五个向该网站提交了132个病例。到研究结束时，病例转诊率上升到每月约12 - 14例。总体而言，24%的转诊病例未使用图像。在前四个月，响应时间为13天，在最后四个月为三天。大多数病例由专家单次回复解答。主要问题是每个地点的互联网停机时间。主要益处是为从业者提供了安全可靠的专家建议获取途径。
