First of its Kind Telemedicine Web Platform Developed by Appstem for University Research Ready for the Patient Testing Phase
The Innovative Telemedicine Web Platform takes a significant leap towards enabling English-Speaking Doctors to remotely diagnose mental health patients who were interviewed in their native (non-English) language without a human interpreter.
SAN FRANCISCO, June 18, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Appstem, a San Francisco-based product design and digital agency, is proud to announce that the telemedicine web platform they developed for UC Davis has been approved for testing in patients. The research project is testing the efficacy of using machine translation to enable English-speaking doctors to more precisely understand and diagnose the mental health of non-English speaking patients. Approval to test the platform is an extremely positive step for the project, the future of telemedicine, and most importantly, the patients who will benefit from better care.
The current-use case for the platform is to have a trained professional (non-physician) interview the mental health patient in their native language. A video of the interview is then uploaded into the HIPAA compliant web platform that Appstem created. The platform uses machine translation provided by the world's most well known cloud technology providers to transcribe the audio and generate English subtitles for the video.
Once processed, the platform administrator assigns the patient and his/her coinciding video to a credentialed English-speaking doctor for diagnosis. The doctor's ability to view the video with well-synchronized captions provides extremely valuable context about the patient's emotional state, information that could not be obtained by reading a transcript alone. This serves as one of the telemedicine web platform's key differentiators as the ability to visually observe the patient leads to a better informed, and presumably more accurate, diagnosis.
"The telemedicine web platform has the potential to be a game changer in how healthcare services are provided. It breaks down language barriers and geographical limitations allowing for the delivery of healthcare services on a global scale. We believe the platform will transform the healthcare industry," said Robert Armstrong, CEO at Appstem.
This phase of testing is focused on enabling English-speaking psychiatrists to offer care to non-English speaking, primarily native Spanish-speaking patients. However, the platform is not restricted by language or medical practice. The machine translation can be applied to translate any language to another: Arabic to Chinese, Portuguese to Hindi, and more. The possibilities are endless as long as the machine understands and can interpret one language to the other. Furthermore, the telemedicine platform could be expanded for use by many other medical practices as long as patient/physician physical interaction is not required.
Peter Yellowlees MD, professor of psychiatry at UC Davis and former president of the American Telemedicine Association (2017-2018), leads the effort, which is funded with a grant from the National Institutes of Health. He and his team are collaborating with Appstem on patient testing and the continued development of the platform's design so that it meets and exceeds the needs of all stakeholders.
About Appstem
A San Francisco based product design and digital agency with a passion for informed, human-centered innovation, Appstem (https://appstem.com/) transforms complex business problems into elegant digital solutions. Leveraging a team of experts in UX/UI design and product development, Appstem partners with clients to create applications that are core to the success of their business, especially when it's mission-critical.
SOURCE Appstem
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