Integrated Patient Records System being used across Portuguese Health Centers

iSOFT Spain, an IBA Health Group company (Australia), has installed its hospital information solution at four health centres and one hospital in Portugal for private healthcare group ESSAUDE in a project worth €519,000. The system was installed in just four months. Running on a single database, the solution provides integrated patient management, clinical and financial applications across the five centres. iSOFT's hospital information solution allows patients' medical histories to be managed electronically with clinical tools which provide accurate information for point-of-care tests as well as providing access to previous diagnoses and test results.

The Povoa de Varzim, Vila Nova de Cerveira, Amarante, Porto health centres and the Santiago-Setubal Hospital were acquired by the Portuguese group Espirito Santo Saúde (ESSAUDE) last year. iSOFT has worked with ESSAUDE since 2000 beginning this latest project in September 2007. Within a month all five centres were using patient administration systems in outpatient, inpatient, infirmary, and pharmacy departments.

At the beginning of 2007, ESSAUDE expanded its hospital division considerably, acquiring Hospor, one of the most important hospital networks in Portugal, which comprised these four health centres and one hospital. As ESSAUDE's technology partner, iSOFT has supported its growth strategy by installing x-HIS as the corporate hospital information system for all its centres.

iSOFT has worked with ESSAUDE since 2000 and became its technology partner in 2002 after a formal agreement, worth €300,000 a year, to install solutions at all ESSAUDE hospitals and health centres. ESSAUDE's growth strategy is based on acquiring and building new hospitals and is underpinned by iSOFT's solutions. Last year iSOFT completed projects for ESSAUDE worth €733,000. Julio Bou of iSOFT Spain said: "Our solution has proven to be versatile and transferable to other health systems. Proof of this is the success of the projects carried out in Portugal with ESSAUDE and in Mexico. We will continue to work with ESSAUDE, providing the support, knowledge and experience that iSOFT has in the development of international information technology applications, the main purpose of which is the improvement and optimisation of health services provided to patients and in this case, private health care."

About iSOFT
Following a merger completed on Tuesday 30 October, iSOFT is now part of the IBA Health Group (Australia). For further information, please visit http://www.ibahealth.com .  also  http://www.isoftplc.com .

NGNS: A Key Stroke Analyser

Professional typewriting can cause severe problems on fingers, hands, arms and even shoulders. One of such problems is the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, which is the leading cause of occupational illness in the United States , costing the industry thousands of dollars every year.

Until now, the investigation of causes and consequences has been difficult, mostly due to the inexistence of a practical and reliable way of analysing the typist movements. This work developed a solution to detect and identify the typist's fingers while typewriting, and then calculate the statistics concerning pressed keys and fingers used to do so.

To capture the typist's movements, an USB camera was used, with a fluorescent light to guarantee correct keyboard illumination. The system then records a video and memorizes the frames where a key was pressed. After the video capture, the system processes the needed frames and detects the fingers used for each pressed key. To distinguish the several fingers, coloured self-adhesive markers cover the patient's nails.

Fuzzy logic was used to classify the used finger, by evaluation of a set of rules that take into account the average R, G and B channels from the area of interest.

The system showed an accuracy of 91% in fully automatic mode, and it is possible to achieve 100% in the advanced mode, where the user can confirm the software classification. Future developments may include a second camera to record another keyboard image, therefore enhancing the chances of correct classification

Contact: Pedro Vieira, NGNS pmv@fct.unl.pt

Magic Key Project

The Magic Key Project , developed at the Superior School of Technology and Management of Guarda , aims at the development of simple, economical and functional solutions that facilitate the access to the new information and communication technologies by people whose physical difficulties hinder or make this access very difficult. (more….)

First Portuguese Health Helpline Selects a British Provider

Source: Med-e-TEL
Date. 06.03.2007

The Impact of Telematics on the Healthcare Sector

(A Survey carried out by the EC co-funded Project "TELMED", in 1996) 

• Portugal

Trends in Health Telematics in the European Union

This document was prepared by the members of the European Community Telematics Programme Committee Working Party (Health, Disabled and Eldery, Health Sector). in the 4th FWP, 1996, seconded by David Preston, NHS Executive Information Management Group
(see all other countries..)

• Trends in Portugal

EC funded Research Projects

• Health Telematics - AIM     (3rd Framework Programme 1991-94)
  - Analyses of organisations and countries breakdown
  - Participants