The Past Influences Our Path Forward
It is Valentine’s Day 2023, as I sit and ponder what to write for this editorial, a number of current events come to mind: the senseless war in the Ukraine, the massive loss of life in Turkey and Syria from an earthquake, the COVID pandemic, the balloons or unidentified objects being shot down over North America, the death of a true telemedicine pioneer, and the American Telemedicine Association, which met earlier this month in San Antonio, Texas. This sounds like an opening to the evening news.
All of the aforementioned are related to telemedicine and telehealth in some way. Much has been written about each of these in this journal, other journals, and a myriad of other venues. The growth of telemedicine and telehealth have benefited from these events. For instance, wars for the past 150 years or perhaps longer have demonstrated the need for more rapid care of wounded warfighters lest they exsanguinate on the battlefield. Beginning in the early 1990s, the U.S. Military has led the way in developing technologies and protocols for applications in various theaters of conflict. This study also has been developed and further adapted by the Veterans Administration and in support of humanitarian care worldwide.
The space programs of the United States and the USSR/Russia developed telemedicine for use in the early days of spaceflight dating to the late 1950s. This same technology was further developed and applied to disasters such as the earthquake in Armenia in 1988 not far geographically from the most recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria. In addition, many of the technologies we have come to appreciate today take their development from the space programs.
In the late 1990s I spoke with an individual about telemedicine and a unique medical condition. The premise was to use telemedicine to monitor a very limited number of patients with this medical condition. The individuals (Martine Rothblatt and General Alexander Haig) were developing Sky Station, which would have used giant dirigibles to provide telecommunications capabilities.1,2 Such a capability could be used for all manner of activities, including telemedicine. More recently, Project Loon was another airborne platform involving many of today’s tech giants.3 Although these concepts had merit, they did not become fully integrated into our communications network or telemedicine. The push now is the use of drones, which do not fly in regions above 20,000 feet above sea level. They have tremendous investment and possibilities. Just remember the human factors component and sky above us!
The use of telemedicine and telehealth worldwide has rapidly increased for the past 3 years as a direct result of the COVID pandemic. The literature on this subject continues to grow. As of February 14, a PubMed search of telemedicine/COVID and telehealth/COVID from 2019 to the present yielded 10,310 and 12,127 articles, respectively. There are approximately 333,000 peer-reviewed publications just on COVID alone. So you see, the first items I mentioned are related to our ongoing development and application of telemedicine. The last two are addressed as follows.
Loss of a True Pioneer
On February 11, 2023, the aerospace medicine community lost a true pioneer, Anatoly Grigoriev. Dr. Grigoriev was the chief medical officer of the Russian space program. He was instrumental in working with both Russian and U.S. colleagues in developing telemedicine for use in both spaceflight and in disasters. The Spacebridge to Armenia and the follow-on projects were a testament to his expertise and perseverance.
The 30th Annual American Telemedicine Meeting
San Antonio was the venue for the American Telemedicine Association’s annual meeting. Now in its 30th year, the ATA provides an excellent platform for sharing research outcomes, knowledge, and experiences. Each year the editorial board chooses the best article from the previous year. The best article for 2022, entitled “Primary Care Appointment Completion Rates and Telemedicine Utilization Among Black and Non-Black Patients from 2019–2020,” was authored by Rebecca E. Anastos-Wallen, Nandita Mitra, Brian W. Coburn, Kaitlyn Shultz, Corinne Rhodes, Christopher Snider, Lauren Eberly, Srinath Adusumalli, and Krisda H. Chaiyachati. This appeared in the December 2022 issue of this Journal.4 In addition, three individuals were inducted as Fellows of the ATA College of Fellows. They are Janet Major, Bill Paschall, and Teresa Rincon. These individuals represent the class of 2023, which is the 15th class. Please join me in congratulating them. Finally, the abstracts for the meeting will be accessible online and will be published in the April issue.
What Is in This Issue
This issue contains the abstracts from Society for Education and the Advancement of Research in Connected Health (SEARCH) symposium held virtually in November 2022. In addition, there are research results from Australia, Germany, Italy, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the United States. Four of the submissions are on COVID.
The study cited in this issue and the historical vignettes I have mentioned earlier provide each of you an idea on how we got here. We may enter new pathway as we march on, just remember much of what we do is on the shoulders of giants who pursued their dreams and ideals. We take the lessons learned and try and make it better for all of us.