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JERUSALEM – AT A medical center outside
of Tel Aviv, 11 Israelis remain quarantined after disembarking last week
from the Diamond
Princess luxury cruise ship in Japan, where hundreds of
passengers became sick with coronavirus. But even after two of these
quarantined Israelis have tested positive for the new virus, medical staff have
hardly touched the group. Instead, they are relying on telemedicine tools to
remotely monitor and communicate with the isolated patients.
"We have been able to meet all their medical needs without
exposing the staff," says Eyal Zimlichman, the doctor overseeing the
group's isolation and care at Chaim Sheba Medical Center, a sprawling campus on
a former military barracks.
The model reflects the increasing embrace of telemedicine in
general in recent years, and its potential in dealing with the new virus,
officially known as COVID-19, which emerged in Wuhan, China, late last year and now
affecting at least 40 countries, health officials say.
"This current
environment certainly makes for an interesting proving ground (for) existing
solutions," says Crystal Riley, a lecturer in health administration at New
York University's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. "It's not
outside the realm of possibilities that new technologies will emerge from this
epidemic."
Chaim Sheba's innovation center recently put out a call to
entrepreneurs in Israel, which has a large
digital health sector, and around the world for proposals for new solutions to
test and treat patients with coronavirus.
"Word has gotten out that we have this group of people here
and we have gotten so many emails from startups offering us their
solutions," Zimlichman says. "This is like a living lab here."
Last week, when the passengers from the cruise ship arrived on a
chartered flight to Israel, medical officials transported them in shuttles to
Sheba. Upon arrival, doctors wearing protective gear physically examined the
patients, none of whom had any symptoms of the virus.
But since then, doctors have not had much physical contact with
the patients. Rather, each day, the patients use hand-held smart devices from
Israel-based startup TytoCare, which they hold over their chests, allowing
doctors to listen to their heart and lungs remotely. They also use the devices
to let doctors look into their ears and throats. Under their mattresses, a
sensor system from the Israeli medical device company Early Sense, which never
touches the patient, monitors their breathing patterns for subtle changes and
potential signs of respiratory infection. The EarlySense system collects and analyzes
more data than traditional methods, and is not invasive, which is key in
getting people who may not even be sick to comply with precautionary medical
monitoring, doctors and company officials say.
Health officials hope a new directive for those in Israel who
are worried about possible coronavirus symptoms or exposure to call a hotline
rather than visit a medical facility will help prevent any spread of the virus.
The hotline, run by the Magen David Adom emergency response service and the
ministry of health, allows callers to have video conversations with doctors,
nurses and medics.
"Barriers to telehealth are largely in people's lack of
education on the utility of it," says Mariea Snell, professor and
assistant director of the online doctor of nursing program at Maryville
University in St. Louis. Another challenge is scale, Zimlichman says,
especially when it comes to new products.
Sara Toth Stub is a journalist based in
Jerusalem.
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