The increasing availability of information and communication technology in healthcare organisation is a pushing factor for the development of innovative applications that could enhance the quality of care delivery while keeping its cost at reasonable levels. Furthermore, as the nowadays patients' care is delivered by multiple operators, thus tools allowing effective management of patients are needed. In this study we present a web-based tele-dermatology service developed in order to investigate the feasibility of such tool for the integrated management of dermatology patients. In the Province of Trento, which is a mountainous region in the heart of the Italian Alps, telemedicine application may play a central role for improving patients' quality of life and control healthcare organisation costs. Here work two kinds of dermatologists: "mobile dermatologists" (MoDs), who work in several different dermatology surgeries in the province and "hospital dermatologists" (HoDs), who are specialists working in the central hospital in Trento. In many cases during their practice, MoDs have to decide the care regimen of patients. Traditionally, doubtful cases are directly referred to hospital specialists, and only in few cases they are discussed by phone calls between MoDs and HoDs. A hospital outpatient specialist's visit has high costs both for the healthcare organisation and for the patients, who often need to go to the central hospital from remote valleys. The well-organized management of dermatology patients, especially of those who need surgery, plays a great role in nowadays care delivery in our region
A XML-based tele-dermatology service as patients' management support
Sboner, Andrea;Eccher, Claudio;Bergamo, Annalisa;
2002-01-01
Abstract
The increasing availability of information and communication technology in healthcare organisation is a pushing factor for the development of innovative applications that could enhance the quality of care delivery while keeping its cost at reasonable levels. Furthermore, as the nowadays patients' care is delivered by multiple operators, thus tools allowing effective management of patients are needed. In this study we present a web-based tele-dermatology service developed in order to investigate the feasibility of such tool for the integrated management of dermatology patients. In the Province of Trento, which is a mountainous region in the heart of the Italian Alps, telemedicine application may play a central role for improving patients' quality of life and control healthcare organisation costs. Here work two kinds of dermatologists: "mobile dermatologists" (MoDs), who work in several different dermatology surgeries in the province and "hospital dermatologists" (HoDs), who are specialists working in the central hospital in Trento. In many cases during their practice, MoDs have to decide the care regimen of patients. Traditionally, doubtful cases are directly referred to hospital specialists, and only in few cases they are discussed by phone calls between MoDs and HoDs. A hospital outpatient specialist's visit has high costs both for the healthcare organisation and for the patients, who often need to go to the central hospital from remote valleys. The well-organized management of dermatology patients, especially of those who need surgery, plays a great role in nowadays care delivery in our regionI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
