Principles of construction of telemedicine consult
Hierarchical structure of telemedicine:
Paramedic-midwifery point (PMP) –> family doctor –> telemedicine offices in the area –> regional center of telemedicine (Fig. 1)
Beginning of telemedicine
In 2017 the reform of the healthcare sector was initiated in Ukraine with the aim of introducing and developing of new organizational, legal and financial-economic mechanisms. These mechanisms aimed at improving the efficiency and accessibility of public health services and necessary for the development of the health care system of Ukraine.
Thanks to the reform, the structural-organizational and functional restructuring of the health care system should be developed in order to increase the level of accessibility and quality of medical care to the population, to introduce new approaches to the organization of medical work and financial support of health care institutions, as well as to increase the efficiency of using budget funds.
Telemedicine and medical reform
According to the reform strategy, primary health care centers, which are healthcare institutions, and family doctors, who carry out business activities on medical practice as individuals – entrepreneurs and can stay with these health care institutions in civil relations.
The centers of primary medical (health) care may include the following structural (or separate) units: paramedics, ambulances, medical centers, medical offices.
The implementation of state policy aimed at improving specialized and highly qualified medical care to the population of Ukraine also envisages active implementation of modern information and telecommunication technologies in the activity of healthcare organizations.
Nowadays, a new direction of healthcare automation – telemedicine – is being gradually introduced. One of the primary goals of telemedicine is to use information and communication technology to ensure continuous and stable access to medical information.
What is telemedicine?
Telemedicine is a method of providing healthcare services to patients in remote and territorially remote areas of healthcare organizations. Telemedicine is implemented on the basis of active introduction of information and communication technologies into the system.
Telemedicine is a component of electronic health system – eHealth
The installation and setup of the telemedicine system – unification of electronic patient consulting, is currently at the moment. The telemedicine consultation will ensure the exchange of information about the patient between the doctors for establishing or refining the diagnosis, choosing the treatment tactics, obtaining a qualified opinion on the results of instrumental, laboratory, functional and other methods of research.