The ease of use is critical in the use of tele health services for the elderly.

As such, it is great to see more and more apps becoming available for idevices. Many of these are for specialists, but it does indicative the shift towards the availability of health apps on idevices. Very powerful when blended with wellness programs and apps on idevices

Saw the attached article today which I thought was worth sharing. Have a look at  ow.ly/cZI4E

Over the many years servicing the aged care sector, we have found that the most successful deployments of technology is where the “building block deployment approach” is undertaken. That is, where each technology component interfaces with all other technology components across the entire RACF. The following schematic highlights some of these components

We have found that the key benefits of the technology building block approach are as follows

1. Easy to manage– Interconnected integrated network, where all technology can be managed centrally, and remotely.

2. One point of responsibility– Ability to integrate nurse call, PBX, data, voice, video, conferencing and presence ( Lync and other) and provides a single point of management

-Can include integrated building management, alarms, duress, messaging, WLAN

– Integrated consistent deployment model- Build once, deploy across all sites, deployment approach

3. Utilise low bandwidth ADSL and MPLS links– Network WAN optimisation to minimise issues with WAN ADSL/MPLS links

4. Future proof – Leverage industry standard components

1. Leverages ongoing technology improvements- “Performance to price doubles every 18 months- Moore’s Law”
2. Broader range of staff and providers to design, supply, implement and maintain your technology

5. Reduce costs – Deploy full managed for less than 1% of Operating Revenue

I would love to get feedback on what other organiations have found to work well

I have seen, and been involved in, much discussion with numerous Government agencies, my clients and vendors, about the ease of use and interoperability of devices affecting the take up of Tele health.

From these discussion and experiences, and the client deployments we are doing, our current view clearly is that ease of use and interoperability is critical for telehealth take up. Hopefully the following will assist those walking the same road, and re what solutions are available

– RACFs and hospitals– engagement of on site and remote/allied specialists is crtical. BYO device capability ( WLAN and BYO device management tools) and interoperable telehealth/ video conferencing platforms ( such as Vidyo) are essential. The good news is that these solutions are available, at realistic prices, and are being deployed. A good article today at http://www.itnews.com.au/News/310681,health-grapples-with-bring-your-own-device.aspx?eid=48&edate=20120802&utm_source=20120802&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=strategies_newsletter

– Community care – we believe that ipads play a critical role in both ease of use and interoperablility ( when used with solutions such as Vidyo). We believe that this can reduce the cost of an in home chronic disease management solution by about 75%. The following two scehmatics will give some usage scenarios