Collaboration Technology for Real-time Treatment of Patients
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October 1 - December 31, 1996
The objective of this task is to demonstrate the usefulness of computer-assisted collaboration technologies in patient care, where the general practitioner in charge of a patient's care is not physically collocated with an appropriate expert consultant. This task will demonstrate remote consultation in two specific instances: 1) between a primary care obstetrician and a tertiary care perinatologist and 2) between a primary care provider and a tertiary care radiologist.
The X-ray scanning software and hardware is ready for deployment at Valley Health Systems (VHS). It is undergoing some final testing, and we are awaiting a decision from VHS and St. Mary's Hospital as to the exact location of deployment and its use. The availability of this module at Huntington will facilitate experimental testing of the usefulness of the radiology consultation scenario. We have not yet made available ultrasound reports at Cabell Huntington Hospital (CHH). We expect to reuse what we have developed at St. Mary's at CHH and to make available these reports for possible consultations between CHH and VHS by the end of next quarter.
In our original proposal, we had proposed looking into the possible use of ATM technology as a backbone for supporting teleconsultations. We have since determined that the ATM technology infrastructure is too expensive to be deployed in the context of this project.
During this phase, the major work included:
Community health care primarily involves preventive and primary health care for community residents through the participation of individual practices, group practices, federally-funded clinics, community centers, and hospitals. Collaboration and cooperation among these multiple parties is essential for effective healthcare delivery. Limited resources and medical staff, coupled with the lack of proper health education and awareness among the population, make it difficult to provide healthcare in rural areas. The objective of this task is to develop a community care network (CCN) that will allow a community of healthcare professionals to provide quality care to a rural population.
The dictation and transcription systems were deployed and are ready for use. The transcriptionists still need to be trained; this will happen in January, and Dr. Merkin will begin using the transcription module for his patients. We also have completed the referral module. It is currently being tested and is expected to be deployed in the first quarter of 1997. We also have developed a number of Java-based input forms for information entering by nurses and administrators.
The following work was completed in this reporting period:
The objective of this task is to develop a domain-specific reference architecture for statewide collaboration in the health care domain that can serve as a model for promoting the use of such technology. Through direct experience with the experimental tasks, Tasks 1 and 2, we expect the architecture to evolve in its construction over the course of the project.
This task manages the planning and installation of infrastructure elements, networks, computers, etc., in the community care network. It also contributes to the overall effort to evaluate the effectiveness of the network and its individual elements.
We have continued to refine our overall architecture and expect to release an architecture document in the next quarter. This report will also serve to publicize our work, as we have been invited by IMIA to share our work in their annual report. The architecture document also forms the underpinning for the follow-on contract we have received from NLM.
We also are examining the impact of additional sites at VHS. No evaluation work could be done as the system is still awaiting actual use.
The simulation work at Arizona State University was completed during the last period. We are awaiting the final report.
The major work during this period included:
The objective of this task is to demonstrate open and easy access to patient information from legacy hospital information systems. This task is now focusing on integration at Cabell Huntington Hospital (CHH).
In addition to the current system administrator -- Casey Jones -- VHS has hired an additional system administrator. These personnel will be responsible for integrating the information systems at CHH, based on the software and approach we have successfully deployed at St. Mary's.
St. Mary's dictated reports are already accessible. We need to fine-tune and verify the use process of these reports. In order to enable VHS physicians to identify a patient uniquely from St. Mary's or VHS, we are developing a prototype indexing mechanism; we will decide in the next quarter if it is deployable.
The major work for this period included:
http://www.cerc.wvu.edu/nlm/artemis/project_reports/p2q9.html
September 3, 1997, by Mary Carriger
Copyright © 1997 Concurrent Engineering Research Center