Regional experience of a multimedia interactive medical record

In many chronic diseases, the collaboration of several physicians is necessary for patient care. With the development of HIV-related infectious diseases, the coordination of cares between the different hospitals of a region is more and more indispensable. This is the case in the northern region of France, where a Programme is currently developed to utilize the telematics facilities in order to improve the collaboration of Healthcare providers. Synchronous or asynchronous cooperation, in the field of Medicine, sometimes called “TELE-MEDICINE,” represents an important part of research developments in Medical Informatics because of the diffusion of Wide Area Networks which technically allow the transmission of texts, images, video, sounds and vocal messages in multimedia applications. The authors describe the CIFASSIH Programme intended to ensure a better cooperation of physicians, using a multimedia interactive medical workstation and ISDN for co-decision procedures (diagnosis, therapy protocols). This Programme, currently in use, promotes new types of services in the medical community and provokes new modes of collaboration