InTouch Health has announced the first iPad app cleared by the Food and Drug Administration that allows doctors to hear their patients’ heartbeats remotely because of WebRTC.
“With the advent of a telemedicine stethoscope for real-time auscultation via iPad, we’re now able to provide ICU patients with increased access to critical care specialists,” Yulan Wang, InTouch CEO and Chairman, said.
InTouch unveiled the telemedicine stethoscope app at the annual American Telemedicine Association conference.
The CS App for iPad allows doctors to listen to digital stethoscopes remotely over the iPad. Wang said that the company already had 1,000 Remote Presence users using the digital stethoscope technology.
One of them is Dr. Jeffrey Sadowsky, critical care specialist and Director of Critical Care Telemedicine, Orlando Health.
“With remote presence telemedicine I have the ability to directly assess heart and lung sounds providing key clinical information about the patient’s condition,” he said. “Our team of ICU doctors can extend its clinical expertise across our regional network of hospitals to better care for patients.”
The use of WebRTC allows for InTouch to use an open standard on mobile devices like the iPad, which have shunned the proprietary Flash technology used for video on the desktop. WebRTC uses HTML5 video, which is already on all new Web browsers, both on the desktop and mobile. Given the vast array of devices out there, platform-independence in the growing field of telemedicine makes sense. The company also has an app available for Windows.
Hospitals will have greater access to qualified doctors using this technology, wherever they happen to be. InTouch is looking to reduce the number of medical errors by expanding access to experienced doctors, especially in intensive care, where quick decisions literally mean the difference between life and death.
The tablet form factor has been very useful in the medical field, because it can be transported more easily than a laptop, which is why so many doctors are adopting them.
Edited by
Maurice Nagle
