In 1997 two tele-oncology projects started in the north of Italy (Province of Trento). The common aim of the projects concerns the design and the implementation of a non-surgical tele-oncology system intended to provide a suitable and flexible computing environment for a joint management of oncology patient on a WAN. The network designed for the first project (funded by Italian Health Ministry) links 5 rural hospitals of the province -lacking of oncology specialists on site- to the central one, where clinical oncology (CO) and radiotherapy services are provided. The specific purpose of the tele-oncology system is to support the rural hospitals oncology care by providing continuos expert remote advice from central site oncology specialists in formulating treatment plans and conducting follow-up sessions. The second project (funded by EC Adapt-bis Programme) is devoted to facilitate the communication between general practitioners (GPs) and the medical staff at the CO department of Trento through a computer network, allowing GPs and hospital specialists to share medical data. To satisfy the overall needs of the two projects an intranet-based OTCS was implemented. The basic component of the system is the multimedia digital medical record. A distributed relational database will allow users to store and retrieve medical records, accessed by a dedicated Web browser. The system incorporates Web-based applications (native and custom) such as synchronized navigation on medical records, image-sharing, audio-conferencing, white-boarding, local notepad, chat and e-mail service. The system provides a synchronous mode for real-time cooperative working between hospital specialists and an asynchronous mode for sharing clinical data between GPs and hospital specialists. Users acceptance during the prototype implementation periods and the training phase was high. Since summer 1999 the OTCS has been deployed in hospital and GPs setting and it is going to be tested in the hospital routine
Design and implementation of a regional tele-oncology project: design and initial implementation phase
Demichelis, Francesca;Eccher, Claudio;Larcher, Barbara;Galvagni, Michele;Sboner, Andrea;Graiff, Antonella;
2000-01-01
Abstract
In 1997 two tele-oncology projects started in the north of Italy (Province of Trento). The common aim of the projects concerns the design and the implementation of a non-surgical tele-oncology system intended to provide a suitable and flexible computing environment for a joint management of oncology patient on a WAN. The network designed for the first project (funded by Italian Health Ministry) links 5 rural hospitals of the province -lacking of oncology specialists on site- to the central one, where clinical oncology (CO) and radiotherapy services are provided. The specific purpose of the tele-oncology system is to support the rural hospitals oncology care by providing continuos expert remote advice from central site oncology specialists in formulating treatment plans and conducting follow-up sessions. The second project (funded by EC Adapt-bis Programme) is devoted to facilitate the communication between general practitioners (GPs) and the medical staff at the CO department of Trento through a computer network, allowing GPs and hospital specialists to share medical data. To satisfy the overall needs of the two projects an intranet-based OTCS was implemented. The basic component of the system is the multimedia digital medical record. A distributed relational database will allow users to store and retrieve medical records, accessed by a dedicated Web browser. The system incorporates Web-based applications (native and custom) such as synchronized navigation on medical records, image-sharing, audio-conferencing, white-boarding, local notepad, chat and e-mail service. The system provides a synchronous mode for real-time cooperative working between hospital specialists and an asynchronous mode for sharing clinical data between GPs and hospital specialists. Users acceptance during the prototype implementation periods and the training phase was high. Since summer 1999 the OTCS has been deployed in hospital and GPs setting and it is going to be tested in the hospital routineI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
