That kind of examination cannot replace a traditional face-to-face consultation, but it can be really helpful in a number of situations.

In the case of 80% of patients, taking their medical history, having a good look at them and listening to their chest is enough to make a diagnosis. “We are looking for solutions combining technology and medicine and that was one of the ideas that were on our mind”, says Rafał Dalewski, PhD from the Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology.

A bit more than just Dr Google

The development of this application means meeting the needs of patients who nowadays – before going to see their doctor - look for a diagnosis on the Internet by browsing through webpages, visiting forums or contacting doctors during online chats.

“The Internet offers lots of opportunities to have a consultation, chat or a videoconference with a doctor, but no medical equipment is involved”, explains Rafał Dalewski, PhD. “Our idea was meant to facilitate diagnostics in the case of basic conditions affecting patients”.

Can anyone become a doctor?

“We arrived at a conclusion that today’s technology is so well advanced that we are able to develop a set of medical devices allowing doctors to examine their patients remotely”, says Robert Jarema MD, PhD. “To make a basic diagnosis, general practitioners need to take a patient’s medical history, have a good look at them, have a listen to their lungs and heart and look into their throat, nose and – in the case of children – their ear”.

The development of a set allowing patients to perform a self-examination was quite a challenge. The set is composed of a stethoscope and videoscope with a number of attachments allowing to look into various body orifices. Patients connect both appliances to a computer via its USB port and all parameters, whose quality is very good, are transmitted to doctors on the other side of the monitor.

This connection is specially encoded to avoid accidental transmission of sensitive data to third parties.

It’s time to call a doctor

The authors of the product were keen on developing a user-friendly device. Videoconferencing enables patients to maintain visual contact with doctors who instruct them how and where to put the stethoscope. Moreover, doctors can hear everything in real time so they can adjust certain settings. However, another person’s assistance is highly recommended during that kind of self-examination.

Designing medical devices to be used by patients themselves was not the only challenge faced by the authors of the application. It was just as important to build a system, which would be user-friendly for both patients and doctors and which would not modify signals during the transmission. It turned out that the quality of electronic stethoscopes included in such sets exceeded that of stethoscopes used by doctors in their everyday practice.

“We tested our stethoscope with physicians and it turned out that they were immensely impressed by the quality of sound, so it might be worthwhile producing that kind of device for everyday use”, says  Robert Jarema. “Doctors often hear more through our stethoscope than through those standard ones, which is why additional training was required”.

Physicians treating patients using this application have been specially trained for that kind of medical consultation. Therefore, for the time being it is not possible to have that kind of consultation with your GP.

“Contrary to all appearances, our system facilitates contact with patients and direct examination”, emphasises Robert Jarema. “We hope that the system will be open to anybody and that each doctor will be able to use it. As things stand at the moment, this is a novelty both for patients and doctors, which is why we are training doctors to make them familiar with this kind of contact with patients and with using the device.

A virtual medical consultation

Poles living abroad or those going on holiday are keen on using the remote medical diagnostics application. When abroad, Polish people have to face the problem of a language barrier when seeing a doctor. Moreover, the cost of medical consultations – for example in Great Britain – is several times higher than in Poland.

The application is of great help to mothers who prepare lists of local physicians, clinics and hospitals before going on holiday. Owing to virtual consultations they can be sure that a doctor is immediately available. This solution is also welcome by people working in different places all over the world who have no time to queue and wait for an appointment at a clinic.

Each patient using the system has their own medical file containing test results, recommendations and prescriptions (for the time being there are no e-prescriptions in Poland, a prescription can however be delivered to the patient’s home). Therefore, even if such virtual consultations necessitate a hospital or clinic appointment, the doctors there will know what has happened to the patient before.

No go areas for doctors? Send in an engineer!

“We had to start from the scratch: to develop our own communicator, devices and security features. It was a hell of a job”, says Robert Jarema. Now the designers want to develop their product by adding more devices, expanding the medical offer and simplifying the application as much as possible.

In the future, this application could also be helpful with preparing a patient for a consultation: doctors would receive background information from initial auscultation even before patients walked into their rooms. Moreover, the system could also monitor a patient’s vital signs, for example read data from cardiovascular devices. Should a patient’s life be in danger, their doctor would be able to react at once.

The authors of the application, Robert Jarema MD, PhD and Rafał Dalewski PhD, Eng. from the Warsaw University of Technology admit that the cooperation of two people who deal with very different things on a daily basis is not only a tremendous challenge, but also a great opportunity to find new solutions. It took them over two years to create the application, but they both say that it was worth it.

“The greatest things are created as a result of meetings of specialists in different domains”, emphasises Robert Jarema. “I had no idea that my colleague dealt with such fantastic things and he did not know what I dealt with. But when we started talking it turned out that we had lots of ideas. Therefore, we always encourage young people to realize their dreams and ideas and if necessary, we offer our help”.