Title :
An architecture for integrated regional health telematics networks
Author :
Katehakis, D.G. ; Tsiknakis, M. ; Orphanoudakis, S.C.
Author_Institution :
Center of Med. Informatics & Health Telematics Applications, Inst. of Comput. Sci., Heraklion, Greece
Abstract :
Healthcare is usually delivered within certain organizational boundaries and information produced at each site is managed by isolated autonomous clinical information systems. In some cases point-to-point communication is enabled, facilitating the exchange of information. In contrast, integrated regional health telematics; networks enable accessibility to information and services without visible organizational boundaries, to provide decentralized healthcare through integrated services for seamless and personalized information delivery. This has the advantage that enables informed citizens to have an impact on the healthcare system and to be more concerned and care for their own health. The current vision comprises affordable access to healthcare resources and services for all citizens, thus making medical expertise a shared resource wherever and whenever needed. Important areas in which information society technologies are likely to have a significant impact include those of pre-hospital health emergencies, remote monitoring of patients with chronic conditions, and medical collaboration through sharing of health-related information resources. Accessibility to these and other media-rich, user-oriented. services, in the context of the emerging global information society, will be supported by a healthcare information infrastructure, which can achieve effective horizontal integration of networked information sources.
Keywords :
biomedical education; distance learning; distributed object management; groupware; health care; information networks; information technology; medical information systems; patient monitoring; telemedicine; accessibility; added value services; affordable access; chronic conditions; decentralized healthcare; educational services; emerging global information society; health-related information resources; healthcare; healthcare information infrastructure; healthcare resources; information society technologies; integrated electronic health record; integrated regional health telematics network architecture; integrated services; media-rich user-oriented. services; medical collaboration; medical expertise; networked information source horizontal integration; organizational boundaries; pre-hospital health emergencies; remote monitoring; seamless personalized information delivery; Application software; Biomedical informatics; Clinical diagnosis; Collaboration; Computer architecture; Computer science; Electronic mail; Isolation technology; Medical services; Telematics;
Conference_Titel :
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2001. Proceedings of the 23rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7211-5
DOI :
10.1109/IEMBS.2001.1019624