TELEMEDICINE AS A QUALITATIVE FORM OF MEDICAL SERVICES

Abstract

Purpose: to study the use of telemedicine as a form of qualitative provision of medical services in Ukraine and, in particular, in the Poltava region.

Materials and Methods. Existing legislative and sectoral normative materials were analyzed on the basis of the biblio-semantic and structural-logical analysis.

Results. The article is devoted to the importance of the network of remote/distant (telecommunication) for the provision of medical services in Ukraine and, in particular, in the Poltava region. It was proved that development of telemedicine is especially important in cardiology, since the risk of cardiovascular disease often lies in the acute and unexpected start of an atypical clinical picture, which does not allow patients and often district clinics to quickly and correctly assess the situation, which in turn can lead to the death of the patient. The system of remote round-the-clock emergency consultative cardiology assistance with the possibility of direct transmission of ECG over telephone lines got wide development. This allows to reduce the time from the moment of the first symptoms of illness to the provision of qualified medical aid in full scale, 3–9 times, which in many cases helps to save lives and health of patients. According to the order of the director of the Department of Health of the Poltava regional state administration «On the interaction of medical institutions of the Poltava region in the provision of urgent cardiological assistance in acute coronary syndromes», a decision was made to provide medical care using telemedicine (remote counseling) with a view to delimiting the functions between the remote – the diagnostic (telemedicine) center of Poltava Regional Center of Emergency Medicine and Disaster Medicine and the telemedicine center of Poltava Regional Clinical Cardiology Clinic for urgent prehospital patients with ACS and other urgent conditions.

Conclusions. The introduction of telemedicine benefits first and foremost to improving patient efficacy and quality of treatment in accelerating the transmission of information about the results of examinations between various specialized clinics without transportation of the patient (especially in critical cases), in remote (telemedicine) consultations with narrow specialists in territorially remote medical institutions, in conducting medical consultations (teleconferences) with specialists of medical institutions, regardless of their place of placement in avoiding mistakes due to the indiscriminate handwriting of doctors, in reducing the timing of patients’ examination.