City's first medical cloud system a boon for patients and doctors alike
Dr Tao Minfang, from Shanghai No.6 People's Hospital, gives a long-distance medical consultation to a patient at Jinshan Tinglin Hospital through the cloud platform. All information and medical results are shown on the screen at the same time.
The city’s first long-distance medical cloud diagnosis and treatment system, which allows hospitals to share real-time information and data, has been established between Shanghai No.6 People’s Hospital and all district-level hospitals in Jinshan District.
Through the system, the information of all patients in rural Jinshan hospitals will, when necessary, be transferred to Shanghai No.6, one of a leading hospitals in the city, for group consultation and guidance from senior specialists.
The information will only be used for medical purposes and patients’ privacy will be protected.
Dr Mi Yiqun, director of the outpatient department at Shanghai No.6 People's Hospital, said that such consultations were previously only possible in-person, which wasted a lot of time.
"This system shows results of all medical checks and the previous medical history of a patient, allowing specialists to have a better understanding and give more accurate diagnoses and treatment plans," Dr Mi said.
Through the new system, patients in Jinshan needn’t go all the way downtown, as the results from a long-distance consultation will be exactly the same as if they went to big hospitals directly.
Specialists also save time and energy usually spent traveling to grassroots hospitals for consultation and education, officials said.
“This is in line with the current medical reform, which encourages patients to visit nearby hospitals,” Dr Mi said.
New technologies not only make medical services more convenient, but also accelerate the development of the sector.
Apart from big-data systems, technology and products like 3D medical tools and artificial intelligence have also been used as effective assistants for doctors.
“With 3D endoscopy, we can make less and smaller cuts while achieving the same results," Dr Yao Feng from Shanghai Chest Hospital said.
Dr Hu Bing, from Shanghai No.6 People’s Hospital, said AI technology is now able to become an effective assistant to ultrasound doctors. AI only requires a few seconds to give a diagnosis, as compared to a few minutes or more using traditional methods.
“The Internet and AI technology are bringing reform to the current medical practice,” Hu added.
