An Integrated Telecommunication Pilot Platform for the Provision of Telematic Health Care Services

Aim of the paper is to present a platform that will enhance the provision of medical services for both citizens and traveller`s in remote/isolated regions of southeast Mediterranean, and on board ships travelling across it. This platform will allow the distribution of knowledge and collaboration among the health personnel of these areas, making use of wireless and terrestrial broadband telecommunication lines. The platform will provide the following health care services: i) Tele-collaboration and teleconsultation services between health care personnel, ii) home care telemedical services for “at risk” citizens, e.g. elderly, patients with chronic diseases, and post-surgery patients, iii) tele-medicine services in emergency situations, and iv) eLearning services for the continuous training through seminars for both health care personnel (doctors, nurses etc.), and persons supporting “at risk” citizens. The above services will be provided through the combined use of already evaluated systems. These systems supports capabilities for ultrasound images, ECGs, vital signal measurements, video conference, and elearning, along with communication gateways for data transmission over ISDN/DSL, satellite, GPRS, and WLAN networks. Furthermore, the implementation of an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) infrastructure to support proposed system’s interoperability will provide the fundamental basis for future collaboration and information technology projects in the area. Manuscript received August 10, 2006. This work was supported in part by the INTERREG III, STRAND B, ARCHIMED. S. G. Mougiakakou is with the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems, National Technical University of Athens, Greece (telephone: +30-210-772-2968; fax: +30-210-772-3557; e-mail: smougia@ cc.ece.ntua.gr). H. Papadopoulos is with the National Center for Scientific Research, “Demokritos”, Greece (e-mail: [email protected]). P. Telonis is with the National Center for Scientific Research, “Demokritos”, Greece. George Konnis is with the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9 Heroon Polytechneiou Str. 15780 Zographou, Greece (e-mail: [email protected]). Prof. K. Nikita is with the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9 Heroon Polytechneiou Str. 15780 Zographou, Greece (e-mail: [email protected]). Prof. D. Koutsouris is with the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9 Heroon Polytechneiou Str. 15780 Zographou, Greece (e-mail: [email protected]).