eHealth for people crea una campaña en Goteo.org para desarrollar föO Station

Desde föO y eHealth for people, tenemos el placer de participar en el programa#Cofinancia organizado por Goteo.org y el Gobierno de Extremadura. El objetivo es realizar una campaña de Capital Riego para 10 proyectos.

föO Station ha sido seleccionado entre un total de 23 proyectos participantes y desde el día de hoy tenemos activa nuestra campaña en Goteo.org por 40 días con el objetivo de obtener la cantidad de dinero que necesitamos para realizar nuestro proyecto.

Pulsa aquí para conocer föO Station.

Te invitamos a entrar en el perfil del proyecto y descubrir como puedes ayudar a convertir en una realidad föO Station, queremos que sepas, que ninguna aportación es pequeña si con ella conseguimos democratizar la telemedicina y hacerla llegar a todos los rincones del planeta.

Como dice uno de los miembros de nuestro comité de expertos, “La telemedicina no es un lujo, es una necesidad y en entornos eminentemente rurales y pocos desarrollados es incluso una obligación.”. Y esa es la situación en la que se encuentra África, un continente con una sociedad eminentemente rural, con datos de densidad de población de 33hab/km2, y con sociedades poco desarrolladas, con indicadores sociales básicos como los siguientes:

- Esperanza de vida 53 años, la menor del mundo

- Mortalidad materna 1\31, 600.000 mujeres al año

- Mortalidad infantil 14,4%, el 50% de los niños entre 0-5 años que mueren en el mundo son del continente africano

- Indice de escolarización, 76% mujeres 80% hombres

- Abandono escolar en primaria, 30%

En este entorno, con esas condiciones tan extremas, es donde queremos desarrollar föO Station, porque debemos ser el cambio, que deseamos ver en el mundo.

Sólo queremos que tras leer el perfil decidas #SúbeteAlBarco y juntos llegar a la meta final, difundir la telemedicina a todos los rincones del planeta y que sea accesible para todos. Si el objetivo es democratizar la telemedicina debemos mirar al mundo entero y empezando por aquellos que están en peor sitio de partida, nadie se merece vivir sin la asistencia sanitaria mínima. föO Station es mas que un proyecto, föO Station quiere cambiar el mundo.

Telemedicine. Is it more used in rural areas or in cities?

If we consider the data from the latest report from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Economics and Statistics of the United States, Americans use to:

1.- Job search, 73% of the unemployed in the U.S. looking for work in this way.
2.- Citizen participation.
3.- Health research and finding information in general, but also used as a vehicle for professional interaction and more innovative telemedicine.
4.- Other activities as social network use, blogging, etc..

We can see that Health would be a Trend Topic on the needs of American citizens regarding the use of the Internet.

Although telemedicine is offered as a tool for communication between patients and professionals and provides unique opportunities for the treatment and prevention of chronic conditions in rural or remote medical centers of reference, this report shows that it is more prevalent use in urban populations, at least in the U.S.

The base of this report include data from 53,000 households during the month of July 2011. In that we can to find that Internet users of urban areas were more participants in this type of medicine, than users of rural areas, utilization rates were 8% and 4% respectively. The 7% of Internet users reported that connect to the network, to access medical records, participate in a video conference with the health professional or remote procedures as heart rate monitoring. The data show disparities in income and education level, but few racial disparities. 11% of users with incomes over $ 100,000 has devoted time to activities related to telemedicine and only 4% of users with incomes below $ 25,000 have reported such use.

If we analyze this report with details, we can conclude that bring telemedicine to rural areas is a government decision as part of a health program, and pursues the objectives of bridging the gap by using this technology, reducing costs and making life easier for users in a large number of specialties, not replace traditional medicine, and come through the use of this technology to urban users, enable an optimization of health services that will be accessible in a way more functional and more comfortable for many users. What it is clear from this report is that telemedicine is a trend of investment, development and use and is not intended to replace anything, just provide tools to optimize health services offering the same in a more accessible , more functional, with less cost and saving all kinds of distances, physical, cultural, economic, etc..

Telemedicine in prisons, an example of rentability

One of my good friends in all his talks about telemedicine, he said "Telemedicine is not a luxury, it is a need and sometimes an obligation".

Doc. Claudio Pelaez is a great defender of telemedicine and during ten years, he was the Regional Coordinator of Telemedicine Program in Extremadura. He has developed telemedicine,  all than he could or have allowed him. This telemedicine program began in 2002 with first pilot program and Claudio Pelaez and all his team have developed and configured a work protocol and they have won experience, they have created a new medical model based in telemedicine with a satisfaction rates above to 90%.

If you want know it, please you can click in this link, for watch a film about telemedicine in Extremadura broadcasted by Canal Extremadura.

One of the bets more interesting about telemedicine in Extremadura was to bring telemedicine systems to prisons and to allow to them access to medical services across the technology.

In US, Texas Deparment of Criminal Justice and University of Texas Medical Branch in 1994, they began a telemedicine program in prisons, in these twenty years they have done 354.000 teleconsults and they have saved around 1.215$ billion until 2010, with teleconsults, EMRs, Teletraining program.

It is a clear example where We can to obtain economical rentability with investments in technology and new process.

The Spanish Government wants to save 558 million euros in three years, implementing the "e-Health"

Among the measures proposed and included in the Reform of the Administration, find 22 on the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, 12 of them relating to the Ministry of Social Services and Equality and 10 relating to the General Secretariat of Health and consumption, the ultimate object of these measures is to avoid duplication and simplify administrative procedures to strengthen cooperation mechanisms of the different public administrations.

From Extremadura must indicate that these three issues "core" and take time to operate and effectively represent a cost savings and an improvement in the quality of health care. But from Blogtelemedicina We miss a boost to telemedicine tool that would increase even more if possible savings and provide healthcare of the highest quality, especially in areas with less population density.

While it is true that the concept of eHealth is very broad and includes concepts such as electronic prescriptions, electronic medical records interoperable electronic health card, not least the use of telemedicine and telecare at all levels, which is a new model of care, which will require changes in the way of actual work,  because it allows a patient who is in a remote area and thanks to the possibilities that today's technology allows, to make a videoconference and a doctor can give a diagnosis. We see telemedicine as something completely normal and usual, like today We are using the telephone or other means of telecommunication.

In Extremadura we performing it since 2003 and as of today if you ask any patient who has been treated by telemedicine on its usefulness, you'll see that immediately responds that it must be something implemented at all sites. It would be interesting to conduct an economic study of the savings during this period and encourage to SES(Servicio Extremeño de Salud) to perform it.

Telemedicine is now close to us.

Telemedicine is health to distance like concept, thanks to technology and communications. It isn´t a promise or any futuristic idea. Today telemedicine is more a reality.

For Cisco, in Costa Rica this trend, that it is a reality in other countries, has begun to win terrain thanks to high bandwidth of Internet and high quality video codecs.

A research done by Cisco with Princeton Survey Research Associates International, in sixteen countries,  at 2010 show that, more important worries for telemedicine leadership companies are, allow equitative access to healthcare services, efficiently and with high quality. This study detected like primary problems, low numbers of specialists and its bad distribution, patients bad referred to hospitals and waiting list very long.

Now exist a crisis in healthcare services, not only in Costa Rica also in some countries around the world,  some of them with high development like Spain. And telemedicine helps to go out of it. Allow remote healthcare helps to reduce the congestion in medical centers and finally it benefits to patients, says Ariel Szternberg from Cisco. 

These teleconsults might benefit to old people and any person that can´t go to medical center by distance, geography, etc.  and it needs one specialist that only is in other place. All these things are possible thanks to telemedicine. For us, our next step will the telediagnostic not only with vitals also with electronic health records complete with images, clinic exams, all them digitilized and sent by Internet, says Ariel Szternberg.


Notice complete in www.estrategiaynegocios.net

200 patients benefit from telemedicine at Granada.

200 patients have been benefited from the Telemedicine unit for recording of Encephalography between Baza Hospital and the University Hospital Virgen de las Nieves. With it, users particularly fragile, mainly elderly, pediatric and comatose people have access, for three years, the Service of Clinical Neurophysiology Granada hospital without physically moving to the capital.

People don´t move, are studies or cases which travel in real time thanks to computer science from the Computer of the doctor in Baza Hospital, to the computer of the specialist in Granada Hospital.

Target population of Baza Hospital are 70.000 people, normally in little towns with big difficults for travelling, bigger at winter. For all them, telemedicine is a great solution for their problems, easier, faster and comfortable. They receive their medical diagnostic at reference hospital in Baza without trips to reference hospital in Granada.

post published at www.hospitaldigital.com

Telemedicine against hospital costs.

Expenses "absurd" keep breaking the bag of Health. Therefore we must stake out a reorganization of the Health System. An example of this reorganization would be telemedicine, that experiments carried out in multiple places in the world, every day becomes established as an ideal system to provide quality medicine, relying on technological advances, all patients who for reasons distance, terrain, dependence etc .. need the services of a specialist and for the system a high cost of transport, etc.

EULEN group has developed a prospective study TelemedCare system, pilot work of major chronic care through home telecare. In a comparative sampling of a quarter with remote monitoring or not, found that doctor visits were reduced by 62% and emergency room visits by 73%. According to the study, only the doctor visits in the study period accounted for an outlay of more than 4,200 euros. These figures fell to the 2,028 with the use of telemedicine. Regarding the average annual savings, this would amount to 1,098 euros per patient, concludes the report.

the question now would be, if this has been a pilot, What would you save telemedicine Extremadura Health Service currently developing such teleconsultation year 8000?, And if they decided to expand its telemedicine network and take it beyond existing borders?, it is true that this would require an investment in technology equipments, but also what is clear is that in time would offset that expense with savings suffered in the system.

Notice complete in larazon.es website.

Argentira will sign an agree with University of San Diego for to do telemedicine sessions.

The agreement signed between Argentina and the University of San Diego allow that patients in the country can access the best treatments using the possibilities that technological advances make it easy. a Tumor Committee composed of experts from Argentina and US analyze each particular case, and from international treatment guidelines, will decide in conjunction with the patient the best treatment. Also professional did a training, encouraging the rotation of Argentine experts at UCSD and UCSD professionals in our country, which will help both in learning new techniques and innovative treatments from the US and in enrolling patients in clinical studies in international protocols.

Technological advances in videoconferencing, like telepresence, improve exponentially accessibility, this systems use communication standards and reduce bandwidth use, which is easier to use anywhere. Allow the interconnection of any device, anywhere, whether at the office of a specialist, a hospital consulting, home of a patient, a computer, a tablet, etc. .. They improve quality of care for various reasons, one image quality is HD, two it allows to patient access to a specialist worldwide through a consultation on-line, three it allows participation of all stakeholders in the consultation, patient, doctor, primary care physician, physician interconsultado and family, and finally looks to be several highly qualified professionals, it decreases the amount of errors. But also they reduce transport costs and trips with not only they cause direct savings to the patient, but an indirect whole society as reducing fuel use and reduce environmental pollution associated with trips.

This agreement also involves surgery or development in robotics, an emerging technology that allows advanced laparoscopic procedures that are having great results because it reduces operative time and morbidity.At a time like the present where the financial and economic crisis gripping the governments of many countries and where their leaders are only possible cuts in healthcare. We'd like to break a lance for telemedicine and encourage these leaders to analize the advantages of this type of material and the potential benefits to the system. Clearly, if you do not have this technology you have to make an investment in procurement, but what makes something profitable is not the initial expense, but the benefits that subsequently generates initial expense and frankly if you do a serious study and held the stage of action of telemedicine, we can conclude that soon generated large profits, reduce costs to the patient, reduce costs to the healthcare system, reducing costs to society in general and an improvement of training system professionals, causing that these professionals will become more resolutive and therefore save more to the system.

Is the future and we must support it, those places where there is no need to consider the implementation of this technology and in places where time has been used for updating the material to use 100% of the possibilities that technology offers.

HOPE Exchange Programme visit telemedicine network in Extremadura.

For the second consecutive year, Extremadura is a stop of HOPE Programme over spanish territory. During May 21th and 22th at Badajoz, the participants in HOPE programme from Portugal and Letonia, have made in Extremadura a scale to know the most interesting aspects of telemedicine network of the SES.

The conferences have been given by Dr. Claudio Pelaez Vega, Regional Coordinator of Telemedicine in Extremadura and technicians of ViTelNet Europe, company  responsible for installing, establishing and maintenance of telemedicine stations. They have shown to participants in this programme the qualities and benefits of telemedicine in Extremadura.

The conferences were in Perpetuo Socorro Hospital at Badajoz and at May 22th, the participants did a visit to Health Center of alburquerque, where they could to know the retinography that SES is using in its telemedicine programme of diabetic retinopathy.

Telemedicine Course in Perpetuo Socorro Hospital at Badajoz.

May 15 and 16th, In Perpetuo Socorro Hospital at Badajoz, the  Escuela de Ciencias de la Salud in Extremadura, has did a telemedicine course titled Telemedicine Course for Primary healthcare and Speciality healthcare about telemedicine and its use in Extremadura.

SES has bet by telemedicine since 2002, when its telemedicine pilot
program was a success, and they decided to investment in telemedicine for the future. Today in Extremadura there are 47 telemedicine stations, around all its territory in 30 Health Centers, 13 Hospitals, 2 Prisons, 1 Old People Center and 1 Teenage Center. In all this time, ViTelNet and its section in Spain ViTelNet Europe have helped in maintenance this telemedicine network, and broadcast the benefits of a good telemedicine network.

From Blogtelemedicina encourage to the SES will continue on this path, develop a more widespread use and broadcast the benefits that telemedicine is bringing in Extremadura.

Telemedicine in Asturias.

Asturias has presented Thursday, April 19, at the Committee of the Regions of the EU's its experience in telemedicine in the Health Area I of the Principado de Asturias, with head in the hospital Jarrio in the framework of the Health and Telemedicine Network rural (RESATER) and leaves the surrounding Asturian in an advantageous position in Spain in regard to the implementation of new technologies in the healthcare system.

This initiative, developed jointly by the Goberment of Asturias and the Asturian Federation of Councils (FACC) was presented at the Workshop 'e-health: what solutions arise for the future of Europe's rural areas?', With which the Committee of the Regions in Brussels decommissioning projects promoted by the Territorial Cooperation Programme European Space Southwest.

The experience that Goberment of Asturias presented in this seminar focuses on a program for patients in rural areas can be made from their own health centers screening of diabetic retinopathy, a disease is the leading cause of blindness among patients with diabetes among 25 and 65. The project spokesperson Crisanto Alonso, noted that telemedicine enables early diagnosis, lowers health care costs and a savings to the patient, who does not have to travel to hospital when living in scattered areas of rural Asturias.

Before the start of this program, patients in the health area should be periodically these tests had to move to the Regional Hospital of Jarrio, what is now avoided. After application of telemedicine, 85 percent of the 952 patients enrolled in the program in the Northwest could perform the tests required in their respective health centers without having to go to the hospital. The reduction of the revisions is 42.5 percent, a saving which is estimated at around 60,000 euros.

The methodology of the program is that a medical team with medical instruments goes to health centers, where they took fundus photographs of patients who have to do the test.

Orange and Sanofi show the new telemedicine platform diabeTIC.

Orange and Sanofi have showed the telemedicine platform called diabeTIC during The Annual Congress of Sociedad Española de Diabetes, in Vigo (Galicia).

This telemedicine solution allows to send datas, secure storage of patient's clinical information and service two-way communication between patients and healthcare professionals. So, it makes available to chronic diabetes patients, the new technologies, diabeTIC contributes to greater patient involvement in managing their disease, and that from this point the patient will automatically send glucose values , manually send other variables, exchange messages, respond to questionnaires, access to the library and a reminder alert system.

The goal of diabeTIC is to innovate in the model of diabetes management, raise tangible improvements in the quality of life for patients and assist the clinician in relation to the diabetic patient, while it allowing to increase productivity of health care, optimize resources and control costs.

Medical trains.

There are already several examples in the world of health trains whose mission are to bring health and social care to remote and difficult access areas.

One example is Dr. Ramon Carrillo health train under the Ministry of Social Development of Argentina, which is a creation of the Minister Alicia Kirchner and Secretary Sergio Berni. The train assists small towns with 800 people. who have the hospital to 300 kilometers, so we await the arrival of the train, it is composed of 1 tank, 2 freight cars and 6 cars adapted with dental offices, ophthalmology, radiology, gynecology, laboratory fully equipped with 68 professionals on board.

Train health and social development of Argentina

We can imagine that telemedicine possibilities in these situations and how health professionals can take advantage of these technological tools to bring a better health and better quality to those areas.

Another interesting example is developed in Russia telemedicine system "health train" using telemedicine systems to cover with satellite broadband link all along the way.