OnMed – A smart health connected medical cabin for complete diagnostics

OnMed is a smart health connected medical booth that diagnoses and dispenses drugs. It could well become a real alternative to doctor consultations and online consultations. To strengthen the presence of the telepresence doctor, the new OnMed station is equipped with HD cameras and various sensors and can even administer medication.

OnMed: a new step towards medical telepresence

Medical telepresence has the potential to be revolutionary, but so far it has been pretty clumsy. There are robots that roam hospitals and allow doctors to monitoring patients remotely; but it is usually a non-interventionist approach, which allows them to see and chat with distant patients and consult their medical records.

The OnMed station is designed to offer a much richer telepresence tool. Patients enter what looks like a futuristic phone booth and are put in touch with a doctor they can see and talk to. In addition to inspecting vital patient data by ehealth and audio, the doctor can obtain measurements of their size; as well as their weight, BMI, blood pressure, respiration and oxygen saturation. The cabin can even take thermal images to check body temperature or diagnose an infection.

Process at the end of the consultation

At the end of the visit, the OnMed station can administer medication from a supply containing hundreds of the most common medications. If what is needed is not in stock, he can print a prescription that a patient can then use in a pharmacy. And if keeping enough medicines on hand seems to you to pose a safety risk. OnMed says that everything is locked up in a “secure, automated safe”.

Confidentiality is also a concern, and the OnMed station is designed to address this in several ways. When a person enters the cabin, the door automatically locks behind them. To ensure that it cannot be seen or heard from the outside, the door is made of special glass. In addition, the directional speakers are arranged so that only the patient can hear the doctor's voice.

Verification of the user of the OnMed station

To make sure the person in the cabin is the right one, the system uses 3D facial recognition to identify patients. Doctors will be licensed and their IDs will be displayed on the screen for the patient to see.

OnMed says the station allows patients to get in and out in less than 15 minutes, saving everyone time and freeing up hospitals and emergency rooms. In terms of hygiene, the OnMed station is equipped with ultraviolet lighting which sterilizes the air and all cabin surfaces between patient consultations.

OnMed is rolling out these stations in the United States this year. The idea is that they will be installed in places such as colleges, large businesses, airports and hotels. A visit should cost approximately the price of a regular doctor's appointment.

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