Compendium of Health Telematics Projects 94-98 (Draft)
| Project code: | HC 4007 |
| Project value: | 1568.519 KECU |
| EC contribution: | 810.0 KECU |
| Number of partners: | 6 |
| Number of countries: | 4 |
| Duration: | 24 months |
| Starting date: | Jan 1, 98 |
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| Contact: |
SAMIOTAKIS Yiannis
ATKOSOFT sa
3 Romanou Melodou str
15125 Athens
Greece
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| Tel: | 30-1-680.80.69 |
| Fax: | 30-1-680.80.64 |
| E-mail: | yiannis@atkosoft.com |
| Web Site: | |
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Overview
Over the last few years, the advent of telematics supported the creation of Telemedicine networks, which provide health services over telecommunication facilities. Thus home care can be improved, patients on board ship vessels or in remotely located sites can acquire service provision of a similar level as if in an urban center, and experience on the medical field can be easily shared between experts.
Nevertheless, telemedicine is still far from being widespread. There are few projects dedicated to its support, and the ones available have yet to prove their value to both medical personnel and patients. Tele-education on health subjects has not yet been promoted, and as a result doctors in remote areas have few opportunities to be informed on the latest news. Experience sharing is limited to magazines and conferences when there is an easily available, international, electronic network (the Internet).
HealthLine aims on narrowing the gap between the potential and the actual use of the available technology. It aims on the creation of an international network of information and tele-training service providers, operating in a consistent and homogeneous manner. It will be used by experts on the medical field, but it will also be available to anyone looking for related information. It will utilise the Internet to provide information (Help Desk, discussion groups, etc) and support the communication between the subscribed members via an Intranet which will be created.
Two European projects, NIVEMES and RISE, which provide telemedicine services to remote populations (NIVEMES), ship vessels (NIVEMES), elderly (RISE) and infirm people (RISE), will support HealthLine by providing the experience, the resources and the testing sites needed for the project to take-off and become a commercially exploitable source.
Purpose and objectives
The HealthLine project will use existing up-to-date technology throughout its modules, applications and services. Over the last few years, Internet has provided the backbone for the accurate and secure transmission of medical and other information. In conjunction with digitisation of data, high speed computing, software innovations, the decreasing costs of technology and the availability of an improved transmission medium have moved the concept of telemedicine and tele-training closer to wide-scale implementation. No technology will be utilised which is not today widely available, since the key of the radical improvement of the relevant services is not new technology, but integration and interoperability of available ones. A modular software structure will be used, which will permit the incorporation of the newest technology as soon as it is commercially available and cost-effective.
The goal is an international health-related information network. An intranet will be created which will provide the services and support the collaborating partners. Most information data will be publicly available, although some parts of the network will have restricted access. In order to have internationally consistent, quality assured, and cost-efficient services the following components are needed:
- Intranet modules. For the communication among the collaborating partners and the information exchange. It will be based on the common minimal set of services and data agreed across the participating HealthLine institutions (as for example a HelpDesk, discussion forums, the inventory of health service providers, etc). The intranet service and data exchange will be secure and monitored for future costing reasons. Its operations will be automatic, rapid and language independent in a high degree.
- Database. It will contain the relational (structured) information per service provider and will be used both to provide the information to the other modules as well as to the users. It will be linked with the intranet constructed and the Internet in general, as well as the NIVEMES and RISE networks for automatic structured data provision. Thus every modification will be automatically and consistently reflected in all service provision mechanisms.
- Back-office automation to facilitate the administration of the service provision. It will collect and process the statistics from the other modules, and it will take care of the costing calculations when the service enters its commercial phase. It will also monitor the quality assurance factors of the service provision.
- Internet modules will provide the information services to the collaborating partners and the public. They will manage consistent forms (for the common minimal services and data), and links to the database module. They will have hooks for statistical data collection, which will be automatically submitted to the back-office automation module for processing. The Internet modules will also provide the connecting links (for example in the form of web hyper-links) to other similar projects and source of information so that the most integrated approach is made possible.
- On-the-job training modules will provide the training services to the beneficiaries. Since HealthLine success is based totally in the acceptance of the system from the users, particular attention will be based on the providers training both on the HealthLine services and the components operation. The training courses will be offered through Internet, through the existing NIVEMES and RISE networks, as well as off-line, via CD-ROMs.
Results
The project can be easily justified as the success of the telemedicine implementation efforts in the European Union is critical, for medical, technological and political reasons. It will dramatically improve most of the services provided by telemedicine today, and it will satisfy the needs of both end-users and service providers, as:
- It will provide a permanent and consistent channel of continuous flow of information in medical, health and tele-medical issues, to telemedicine providers, telemedicine beneficiaries and to the general public.
- It will greatly enhance the advantage offered by telemedicine, as acceptance of the service will be encouraged. In this respect, benefits of telemedicine cannot be easily experienced without the permanent information flow and training offered by this project.
- The collaborating partners will acquire the necessary know-how for creation and maintenance of other similar, international, information providing, projects.
Further to the above improvement of healthcare services, the project will also contribute:
- To the exchange and distribution of medical information, practices, and cases among European medical institutions.
- To the development of vertical applications for other user groups or areas of interest, supported by the same core of networked medical institutions.
- Indirectly, to the mobility of citizens in the EU, by enhancing the safety of this action.
- Towards the integration and unification of health related services throughout the EU.
The services that will be provided will have a direct social impact, as they fulfil the basic need of people for security. The feeling of distance will be reduced. Unnecessary travel for medical or training reasons, especially of persons living in remote sites, will be reduced. The quality of life of people will be enhanced and the cost of medical care decreased. At the same time, living and working in remote sites will be an easier decision, when adequate information flow can be a certainty.
List of deliverables
- User Requirements Report (Technical Report compiling and summarising all tasks reports in a homogeneous manner) (3, P
- Functional Specifications Report (Technical Report compiling and summarising all tasks reports) (6, P)
- Brochure professionally printed in the languages of the participating organizations describing the project and its goals. (6, P)
- Dissemination Activities Report (6, R)
- Development progress reports (12, P)
- Dissemination Activities Report (12, R)
- HealthLine Software Modules ready for deployment (Internet, Intranet, Database, Back-office automation - administration support, on-the-job training, computer telephony (Greek Cluster), Multimedia Health Record extensions), integrated services ready to commence (18, P)
- Training courses design and teaching material (for the service providers) (18, P)
- Technical report, Demonstrators ready for deployment (18, R)
- Technical Report compiling the user feedback and the modifications - extensions performed to the demonstrators during the verification phase (18, P)
- Augmented and optimised training courses based on the experience of the verification period (18, P)
- Refined and Verified Demonstrators (18, R)
- Dissemination Activities Report (18, R)
- Deployed demonstrators, Technical Report compiling the user feedback and the modifications - extensions performed to the demonstrators during the first phase of the demonstration (21, P)
- Local Exploitation plan ideas report (compilation of all the local exploitation plan ideas (21, R)
- Technical Report compiling the user feedback and the modifications - extensions performed to the demonstrators during the second phase of the demonstration (24, P)
- Augmented and optimised training courses, for the service providers, based on the experience of the demonstration (24, P)
- Refined Demonstrators (Final form) (24, R)
- Dissemination Activities Report (24, R)
- Final exploitation plan. PSC/ATKO responsibility (24, R)
- Final report. PSC/ATKO responsibility. (24, R)
List of participants
| Name: |
ATKOSoft SA |
| Organisation: |
ATKOSoft SA |
| Address: |
3 Romanou Melodou Str., 151 25, Paradissos Maroussi |
| Country: |
Greece |
| Tel: |
30 1 6808069 |
| Fax: |
30 1 6808064 |
| E-mail: |
info@atkosoft.com |
| Website: |
www.atkosoft.com/ |
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| Name: |
Agia Eleni Hospital |
| Organisation: |
Agia Eleni Hospital |
| Address: |
Gr. Lambraki Ave., 126, 185 32 Piraeus |
| Country: |
Greece |
| Tel: |
30 1 4116111 |
| Fax: |
30 1 4117255 |
| E-mail: |
health-pro@ath.forthnet.gr |
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| Name: |
Computer Peripherals International S.A |
| Organisation: |
Computer Peripherals International S.A |
| Address: |
348 Mesogion Ave., 153 41, Ag. Paraskevi |
| Country: |
Greece |
| Tel: |
30 1 6545802 |
| Fax: |
30 1 6545805 |
| E-mail: |
cpi@hol.gr |
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| Name: |
Southern Health Board |
| Organisation: |
Southern Health Board |
| Address: |
Cork Farm Centre, Wilton Road, Cork |
| Country: |
Ireland |
| Tel: |
353 21 545011 |
| Fax: |
353 21 545748 |
| E-mail: |
shbcfc@iol.ie |
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| Name: |
ATM Group Europe AB |
| Organisation: |
ATM Group Europe AB |
| Address: |
Soder Catan 3, Malmo, 21134 |
| Country: |
Sweden |
| Tel: |
46 40 307909 |
| Fax: |
46 40 121361 |
| E-mail: |
anton@atm-group.se |
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| Name: |
Consorzio Pisa Ricerche |
| Organisation: |
Consorzio Pisa Ricerche |
| Address: |
Piazza A. D’Ancona 1, Pisa 56127 |
| Country: |
Italy |
| Tel: |
39 50 972344 |
| Fax: |
39 50 972359 |
| E-mail: |
t.arcarese@cpr.it |
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| Name: |
National Kapodistrian University of Athens |
| Organisation: |
National Kapodistrian University of Athens |
| Address: |
75, Mikras Asias Str., Goudi, 115 27, |
| Country: |
Greece |
| Tel: |
30 1 7781460 |
| Fax: |
30 1 7715738 |
| E-mail: |
jmantas@dn.uoa.gr |
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