Abstract
Telecare-applicable diseases and elements required for telecare systems by individual pathologies have not been clarified for medical care workers to introduce telecare. Firstly, we constructed a telecare system with commercial products including an IP TV phone using a personal computer, pedometer, automatic hemomanometer, weighing scale, self-monitoring blood glucose device, pulse oximeter, and communication network to send self-monitored data to a server. Three general internists who participated in a feasibility experiment involving this system investigated the applicability of telecare for 33 diseases and 17 symptoms encountered in routine clinical practice employing the Delphi method, in which the 3 internists repeated consensus conferences. They prepared a list of constituent elements of the system including biological sensors when the system was applicable. An automatic medical thermometer and electronic stethoscope, which were tested with regard to connection alone, were also included as sharable sensors. Using a TV phone and/or some biological sensors, telecare was applicable for chronic diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, bronchial asthma, and congestive heart failure, and the system was applicable using a TV phone alone for dementia, depression, and atopic dermatitis. The application was difficult for the first examination in many cases, but an interview using a TV phone was useful for the screening of some diseases.
