eyesTalk- Beyond Frontiers

Santhana Krishnan,
TeleMedicine Coordinator,
Aravind Eye Care System.

Recent advancements in tele-medicine break through barriers of distance and time and in the field of eye care they present a whole new array of exciting possibilities! Riding the wave of this new revolution is eyesTalk, free software that enables ophthalmologists anywhere in India and the rest of the world to receive second opinions/expert diagnoses from medical professionals of the Aravind Eye Care System.

What is eyesTalk and what can it do?

Basically eyesTalk is dynamic software that makes it safe and simple to send complete patient consultation records along with images from ophthalmic diagnostic equipment like slit lamps, fundus imaging, ultrasound etc. to specialists at Aravind for diagnosis/second opinion.

The software allows you to maintain complete confidentiality of patient information and creates a database for these consultations that automatically updates itself in your system. To use eyesTalk all you need is a regular telephone line and a computer with a dial up modem.

Salient Features of eyesTalk

  • Uses conventional Internet Protocol (IP) for data transmission

  • Ensures privacy and security of patient data through appropriate encrytion

  • Allows comprehensive patient data entry through specialty-specific templates (separate entry sheets for retina, uvea, glaucoma, cornea etc)

  • Does not require system to be constantly online

  • Provides automated uploading and downloading of data when connected to the Internet

Flow Chart explaining eyesTalk work flow

eyesTalk is software which uses Store and Forward technology. This software supports the integration of digital ophthalmic imaging equipments to capture images. With the help of this software all the clinical data pertaining to a patient can be sent to AEH along with eye images. A specialist sitting in AEH will diagnose the problem and send back the treatment advice to referrer immediately. At the Referrer end the doctor requires a computer attached to the ophthalmic equipment to capture images and a dial-up internet facility to transfer the captured information to the experts.

Patient_Flow


Requirements to have eyesTalk at your hospital

This software is targeted at qualified ophthalmologists. It is imperative for the doctors to have registered to the authorized medical body in their respective country.

Hardware

  • Computer with 2GHz, 128 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard disk

  • Video Capture Device (to capture images from the ophthalmic equipment)

    • Full scale NTSC/PAL resolution (704 x 576/24 bit Color/30 fps)

  • Internet Connectivity (minimum requirement)

    • ISDN or DSL


Software

  • Operating System (OS): Windows 2000/Windows XP Professional


  • Internet Explorer 6.0 and above


  • MS Access (Office Application)


Ophthalmic Equipment

  • Video Slit Lamp or regular slit lamp with a digital still camera (equivalent to Nikon Coolpix 950) attached to it

  • Non-mydriatic Fundus Camera