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Sheba Medical Center pushes forward with digital healthcare, embracing telemedicine to monitor patients in quarantine and treat patients with coronavirus COVID-19 remotely. Using advanced technological equipment, Sheba’s doctors conduct medical surveillance to provide remote evaluations, treatments, and stringent protection for healthcare providers and other patients.
The Sheba TeleTent was established to function as a centralized telemedicine unit enabling zero physical contact telemedicine. This initiative is a part of the ARC (Accelerate, Redesign, Collaborate) Innovation Center located on the hospital’s Tel HaShomer campus.
Patients with coronavirus who are hospitalized at Sheba are located in an isolation complex about 2 km away from the hospital. To minimize contact with the medical center’s staff, telemedicine is being implemented not only to treat patients who are quarantined in their homes, but also for these inpatients.
A variety of new, specialized technologies are being employed as a part of Sheba’s telemedicine program:
TytoCare – a patient-friendly technology that enables people to perform self-checkups from a distance, with no medical staff present. Remote monitoring of the ears, heart, lungs, throat, and vital signs can be done. A package is left outside the patient’s door, with all necessary equipment included, such as a special stethoscope that allows doctors to listen to the patient’s breathing and view images of the lungs. The patient uses teleconferencing to make contact with the home patient unit at Sheba, and the medical team can evaluate all results to determine when the patient can leave quarantine.
EarlySense – AI sensors are installed in beds, allowing each patient to monitor their pulse, breathing, and movement. This data helps with the early detection of a potential deterioration in the patient’s condition.
Datos – these phone apps facilitate diagnostic readouts and personalized video contact with doctors. The healthcare team sees a full dashboard that presents an overall view of the patients’ condition, sorted according to the seriousness of their symptoms. Using customized coronavirus COVID-19 surveys, daily assessments of the patient’s symptoms are performed. Also, video calls are used for virtual doctor visits.
InTouch Health Robot – a robotic telemedicine cart that allows medical checkups from a distance. Called Vici, the cart has a camera, screen, and medical equipment that can be sent to a patient in quarantine and controlled remotely by medical providers.
XR Health – VR headsets equipped with specialized data analysis and reality technology solutions are provided to quarantined patients. XR Health technology helps doctors to treat patients quarantined at the hospital, as well as monitor patients after they return home. These headsets also provide an opportunity for patients to take virtual tours of various geographical destinations, aiming to ease some of the challenges of being in quarantine.
Uniper – communications technology that forms the basis for easy, direct communication between the medical team and patient. The system operates via TV screens, offering person-to-person and group video calls, as well as features such as exercising with patients from a distance.
Continuously focused on innovation in healthcare, Sheba is applying the progressive use of various telemedicine technologies to lower the risk of coronavirus COVID-19 infection among medical staff, other hospitalized patients, and the population at large. These telemedicine measures also help protect the healthcare system from becoming overwhelmed.
