Approach
Description of the System
During the market validation phase the project will evaluate the following services:
- Dissemination of information
- Training and accreditation
- Operational clinical services
1. Guidelines. Clinical guidelines will be disseminated through the network in such a way that each Point of Care has access to the most up-to-date version of the guidelines published by the Centre of Excellence. Guidelines will be held centrally by the Centre of Excellence to ensure that the consulted version is always the most recent one but Points of Care will receive a notification every time a guideline is modified.
2. Newsletters. They are disseminated in “push” mode in such a way that peripheral structure staffs have an extra incentive to read them. They contain updates on different subjects of interest (new diagnostic procedures, summaries of conferences and seminars that the Centre of Excellence staffs have followed, etc.).
1. Training will be provided to the Point of Care staffs through a balanced combination of classroom, face-to-face training and distance learning. This includes the possibility of using the network to broadcast operations, medical examinations, etc. performed at the Centre of Excellence. In particular, the result of the eTEN e-ProLearn project will be capitalised upon to make use of the most effective and economically justifiable learning methodologies for medical doctors and other healthcare staffs.
2. Clinical case discussion is equally foreseen and will be supported by the network. This service; which is based on a multipoint videoconferencing paradigm, allows specialists from the Centre of Excellence and from one or more Points of Care to discuss specific patients’ cases and problems encountered.
3. Accreditation of the Point of Care staffs will also be done through the network. This includes the possibility for the Centre of Excellence specialist to watch operations, medical examinations, etc. to check the assimilation of training by the Point of Care staffs. Accreditation through the network will certainly be complemented by visits on site.
1. Tele counselling. This service is normally asynchronous and allows a specialist from a Point of Care to ask the opinion of a Centre of Excellence specialist in order to get support in case of doubt. The service is implemented through structured mail or the interactive compilation of forms through Internet. The tele counselling service will strongly benefit from the availability of shared patients records that both specialists can access and consult.
2. Tele-consultation. This service allows a specialist from a Point of Care to carry out a consultation while interactively connected through the network to one or more specialists from the Centre of Excellence.
3. Protocol-based shared patient records. This is a network tool that allows the management of a patient under protocol. The protocol typically consists of a part, which is carried out locally at and by the Point of Care and a part, which is carried out at and by the Centre of Excellence. All the specialists involved in the handling of a specific patient have access to the patient records which are held on a secure web server with strong authentication procedures to be sure that only people with the proper authorisation have access to the records. All access to the records is rigorously logged for audit purposes. The Centre of Excellence specialists will have access to the records also for monitoring purposes to make sure that adequate clinical standards are employed at the Point of Care.
