| The present day health-care industry faces | | | | software make it easy to digitize the patient |
| enormous challenges to satisfactorily deliver | | | | health information, in a safe and secure way. The |
| quality health solutions to the masses in a cost | | | | digital data is then converted into suitable |
| effective manner. The challenge gets stiffer, | | | | microwave signals by WIMAX (World Wide |
| when remote communities are involved. | | | | Interoperability for Microwave Access) and |
| To maximize the reach of medical personnel, it is | | | | transmitted over large distances. All the security |
| important to merge wireless technology with | | | | features are incorporated in the network to |
| medical documentation technologies like EMR and | | | | ensure that the bi-directional flow of the patient |
| medical transcription. The objective is to deliver | | | | health data is as per HIPAA norms. |
| health-care solutions through Telemedicine to near | | | | The wireless technology like the WIMAX, provides |
| or distant communities, by creating a seamless | | | | the last mile connectivity and allows for easy |
| health-care web. | | | | integration of the remote communities with urban |
| A proper medical documentation system makes it | | | | centers, where majority of hospitals are located. |
| easy for the physician to maintain a complete | | | | Through WIMAX, it is possible to simultaneously |
| record of the patient. Medical documentation | | | | receive and send, audio and video signals, an |
| system like EMR or electronic medical record | | | | essential requirement of Tele-monitoring. The ECG |
| allows the physician to quickly enter the patient | | | | and EEG of the distant patient can be easily |
| health information into relevant pre-structured | | | | monitored by a doctor in the hospital, situated |
| templates through point-and-click mechanism. As a | | | | thousands of miles away. In case of emergencies |
| result, during medical diagnosis of patient, the | | | | like accidents in remote areas, where the patient |
| physician directly enters the medical observations | | | | requires prompt medical attention, the paramedics |
| into computer to create an electronic record. This | | | | can easily interact with hospitals. They can send |
| saves time and money as no additional staff and | | | | medical observations, reports, videos and other |
| storage area is needed for maintaining bulky file | | | | records, online to hospitals and simultaneously |
| cabinets. | | | | receive instructions from doctors, on how to |
| In medical transcription, the diagnostic report of | | | | treat patients. This all can be easily done as the |
| patient is dictated into the voice recorder and the | | | | patient is being rushed to the nearest hospital. |
| voice file is sent to the transcriptionist. The voice | | | | Thus WIMAX provides mobility to health-care |
| file is converted into electronic text and sent back | | | | delivery. |
| to physician. This is a manual process and takes | | | | This type of health-care setup reduces patient |
| time. The speech recognition software | | | | visits to the hospitals or clinics, unless in case of |
| overcomes this drawback by directly converting | | | | an emergency or when it becomes necessary for |
| dictation or spoken words into electronic file, | | | | patient. The stored health information can be |
| which is then edited by the transcriptionist. This | | | | easily updated regularly by doctor after each |
| setup increases the transcription speed and at | | | | online interaction with the patient, during the |
| same time ensures high degree of accuracy. | | | | course of the treatment. |
| EMR, medical transcription and speech recognition | | | | |