TeleOncology- a bridge connecting the three pillars of ONCOLOGY

Remote patient screening, triaging, and management through combined efforts of Surgical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, and Medical Oncology using technology.

COVID19 pandemic and the following lockdown cast a huge shadow of uncertainty especially among cancer patients, health professionals diagnosing and rendering various surgical and non-surgical cancer care. Patients were not able to travel to seek medical care and Doctors had limitations while they performed consultations over phone or skype or WhatsApp video calls. There were many factors that added to the complexity of the problem and led to the problem deepening and widening.

Several hospitals faced a shortage of staff. Human resources and hospital physical infrastructure were diverted to manage the spread of the infection. The nursing, medical and support staff who worked in COVID19 management had to undergo mandatory quarantine further deepening the problem of shortage of trained staff. In many Government and private healthcare settings including hospitals, the supplies were diverted towards the management of COVID19 leading to a shortage of manpower and shortage of materials to manage cancer patients.

Several Oncology think tanks have suggested several guidelines and protocols identify and prioritize onco care based on several objective parameters. However, the social distancing norms, new world queue management protocols to limit the spread of covid19 and movement restrictions due to lockdown brought a different dimension to the already existing complexity of oncology treatment.

Here is where technology came in handy. The underestimated telemedicine which existed for a while in various evolutionary stages was utilized by several organizations on a trial and error basis. Several Small size companies came up with limited telemedicine capabilities.

M16labs during this time while working with several teaching medical colleges, tertiary care centers, PHC units, dived down deep into the problem and understood the depth and complexity in cancer care.

Working with organizations like Ambuja health foundation and Indian Cancer Society, telemedicine solutions built by m16labs took shape into a robust digital or virtual clinic environment built on top of the telemedicine framework. Several engineering components within the software were improvised and new ones built on the go, to suit the complex matrix of requirements several specialty doctors requested for more efficient patient triaging. Improvisations in several processes and systems were done on the go.

The telemedicine system deployed to meet the needs of the Ambuja Foundation and ICS took the shape of a specialized tele-oncology system that assists in early diagnosis, detection, triaging, intervention, care, and support of cancer patients.

Oncology specific case discussion

Ambuja Healthcare foundation coordinator Mr.L. Satyanarayan mentions “Awareness, Early Detection, Patient Education and an end to end care for all NCD’s is one of the Goals of Ambuja Healthcare Foundation. In this endeavor, we serve patients in resource-poor areas through several NGOs located in rural India. The challenge we faced was to find a highly user-friendly, customizable software product suite that would support voice, video, SMS, and Whatsapp in low Internet bandwidth areas for connecting doctors and create reliable patient electronic records for an end to end care continuum. We after evaluating several products decided on to M16 Labs suite of products. M16 suite of products supports integrating medical devices to provide an end to end solution for screening, remote clinical intervention, and follow-up. M16 suite of products are secure, compliant with all regulatory and security norms. The products are highly user friendly and set free that patient/ doctors a choice of digital payment and secure patient record, and highly customizable forms for building the clinical workflows. We look forward to building custom solutions for all chronic diseases along with M16 Labs, to provide end to end patient-centric solutions”.

Statement from Padmashri Dr.K.S.Gopinath founder of Ambuja Foundation and Medical Subject matter mentor to m16labs “Covid 19 pandemic has brought about evolution and revolution in the minds of human beings. Every person is trying to understand the concept of digital technology and its utility in day to day life. Though telemedicine is an old concept, in the present situation it has changed the practice of medicine into the reality of teleoncology services.”

Statement from ICS Coordinator Dr.Shetty and Dr.Chetana “ why did the ICS team contemplate using telemedicine? What process was adapted to shortlist providers? how was the evaluation done? Why was MyTeleOPD selected? What were the challenges faced while using the system for the first time? How was the ground staff training done? What were the key learnings from the pilot project? What is the next stage project in 5 villages? how do you plan to use TeleOncology for oral cancer screening and what does your team wish to achieve?

Dr.Srinivas K.Gopinath Fellow in Thoracic oncology at Tata Memorial cancer research center “
Multidisciplinary care is the cornerstone of oncology today. Telemedicine technology can play a vital role here. A single surgeon or physician cannot decide regarding patient management, a team of specialists sit together in what is known as a Tumor Board and arrive at decisions. Telemedicine can connect various doctors in every nook and corner of the country to centers in major cities and share their expertise in patient management. National Cancer Grid is already making strides in this space, however, there is a need for a robust technology platform like MyTeleOPD.”

Co-Founder Dr.Ashvath Kulkarni “When telemedicine was first used to monitor the health status of astronauts in space, wireless satellite telephone communication was extensively used and hence the name telemedicine. Today the term is a misnomer because in the 21st century with so many advancements in computer and smartphone technology, over the internet or the web, online cloud-based technology is much more comprehensive, far more advanced, and inclusive. Today CT scans, MRI scans, blood reports, and previous medical history can be shared through the MyTeleOPD platform using any smartphone or tablet thereby assisting the clinician with better insights about the given medical condition, aiding in better informed, evidence-based clinical judgment. We at MyTeleOPD have a team of dedicated engineers who work round the clock to come up with innovative solutions as and when needed. Expert inputs are greatly appreciated by healthcare and public health industry experts, oncology, IT, pharma, and medical device subject matter advisors, and senior stalwarts.

Statement from Anil JJ the founder and CEO “We at m16 labs are not only improving the MyTeleOPD platform on the go, but we are also working on Meta HOS a hospital operating system designed by doctors and top-level management, aimed to serve the tier two and rural areas of India, MyTeleOPD is just the tip of the iceberg, MetHOS aims to solve a deeper and wider problem. Ultimately our focus is to do our humble little bit towards ATMA NIRBHAR BHARATH, DIGITAL INDIA AND NATIONAL DIGITAL HEALTH MISSION, collectively we want to make the Indian health system more efficient and effective through technology, support the Doctors and health staff by simplifying processes and workflows”

MyTeleOPD TELEONCOLOGY DELIVERABLES
All Patients
✓ Influenza or COVID19 symptoms screening
✓ Initial screening
✓ Medical Consultation
✓ Specialist Referral
✓ Specialist Consultation
✓ LAB / DIAGNOSTICS/IMAGING Referral
✓ Direct Confidential Report to Doctor
✓ E-Prescriptions
✓ Counseling and Guidance
✓ Objective Score Measurement related to the specialty guidelines or protocols
✓ Quality of Life assessment
✓ Triaging, Prioritizing Hospital visits and Queue management

Follow Up Patients
✓ Continued Care
✓ Additional investigations which can be done close to home

Onco Care patients
Priority Acute
✓ Influenza or COVID19 symptoms screening
✓ Basic investigations
✓ Multidisciplinary care plans
✓ Counseling and Guidance about local government rules, travel restrictions, hospital Covid19 protocols, Pre-surgery evaluation & care
✓ Triaging - Prioritizing Hospital Queue management

Onco Care patients
Hospital Visit can be deferred
✓ Counseling, Guidance, and Reassurance
✓ Explore and evaluate multimodal or alternate treatment modalities
✓ Nutrition and Wellness consultations

Onco Care patients
Cannot visit the hospital for COVID19 or other reasons
✓ Bridging therapies
✓ Nutrition and Wellness consultations

Palliative Care
✓ Evaluations, assessments, consultations
✓ Caregiver counseling and training
✓ Family counseling
✓ Pain assessments and e-prescriptions for pain management

Objective parameters: REF JCO Global Oncol 6:1455-1460. © 2020 by American Society of Clinical Oncology
Teleoncology: The Youngest Pillar of Oncology Puneet Pareek, MD, DNB, MAMS1; Jeewan Ram Vishnoi, MS, MCh, MAMS2; Sri Harsha Kombathula, MD1; Rakesh Kumar Vyas, MD1; and Sanjeev Misra, MS, MCh2

TECH PRECISION SOLUTIONS 8/2 ULSOOR ROAD BANGALORE BANGALORE KA 560042 IN
suman.m@m16labs.com

m16labs aims at creating affordable healthcare IT solutions, make healthcare solutions easy for & accessible to every strata of society, and keep healthcare data private & safe.

This release was published on openPR.