DEPRECATED

Video Consultation

This feature has not recieved much development effort as I seem to be always drawn to developing more critical medical features rather than this technology. There are several commercial solutions which can perform far better than the DCP video link. It is likely this will be retired from DCP unless I get time and motivation to work on it. My primary reservation is simply this. Video conferencing is hit and miss with regard to the ability for patient to connect, on time, and manage to achieve good connection and satisfactory outcome. In 30% of attempts the patient will not connect and requires switching to telephone consult. This can be overcome with SMS messaging for patient to connect , notification of patient waiting and other enhancements. maybe for the future.

Preview functionality available in DCP Beta Version.

Access via DCP functions and click on the video call icon.

If your PC has a webcam and mic select PC on the left.

Otherwise you can enter your mobile and a link will be sent via SMS which you can open on your mobile.

On the right, enter/verify the patient mobile and click the send invite button.

Both participants will need to click the start button on the opened web page.

Clicking the button will initiate the local webcam feed and if the other participant is online will connect and initiate the remote feed.

Technical Overview

Telehealth service is made possible using WebRTC technology which is integrated into modern browsers. Thus, no need to download and install additional softare.

The service uses a coordinating backend to allow coordination between two participants then the participants connect directly to each other sharing video/audio.

Once participants are connected the coordinating server is out of the loop and does not have access to communication between the participants.

Connection is reliable to a degree and so far has tested well once connections are established.

Connection is sometimes prevented by certain technical considerations such as browser version or OS version on mobile platforms and apparently the lunar cycle.

Testing is ongoing.

Interestingly the technology employed by DCP is atypical and eschews traditional STUN/TURN servers and protocols and implements its own signaling.

Supported PC browsers

Chrome Firefox Edge

Supported Phones and Tablets browsers

Safari on iPhone 6S/iPad Air requires iOS/iPadOS 13+.

Chrome on iOS/iPadOS - latest version supports WebRTC calls.

Edge on iOS/iPadOS supports WebRTC calls.

Chrome on Android Phones released after ~2017 (e.g. a Pixel 2, Galaxy S8 or newer)