Monday, July 28, 2008

The Health Blogosphere: What It Means for Policy Debates and Journalism

Might be of interest?

The Kaiser Family Foundation is sponsoring a discussion about the growing influence of blogs on health news and policy debates. Only in the past few years has the blogosphere become mainstream. In the health policy arena, we now see policymakers, journalists, researchers and interest groups utilizing this new media tool to deliver information to their audiences.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2847

Grid Technologis for eHealth - Call for chapter proposals

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS
Proposal Submission Deadline: October 31, 2008
Grid Technologies for eHealth: Applications for Telemedicine Services and Delivery
A Manuscript edited by Dr. Ekaterina (Eka) Kldiashvili
Georgian Telemedicine Union (Association), Georgia

Introduction
“Grid” computing has emerged as an important new field, distinguished from conventional distributed computing by its focus on large-scale resource sharing, innovative applications, and, in some cases, high-performance orientation. Grid computing is increasingly being viewed as the next phase of distributed computing. Built on pervasive Internet standards, Grid computing enables organizations to share computing and information resources across department and organizational boundaries in a secure, highly efficient manner. Organizations around the world are utilizing Grid computing today for a whole host of different applications such as collaborative scientific research, drug discovery, financial risk analysis, product design, etc. Grid computing enables, for example, research-oriented organizations to solve problems that were infeasible to solve due to computing and data-integration constraints. Grids also reduce costs through automation and improved IT resource utilization. !

Finally, Grid computing can increase an organization’s agility enabling more efficient business processes and greater responsiveness to change. Over time Grid computing will enable a more flexible, efficient and utility-like global computing infrastructure. From its inception, the goal of telemedicine has been to overcome the time and distance barriers that separate the caregiver from the patient. Widespread adoption of the technology has been hampered by a number of technological, regulatory and other barriers. Innovations such as computer-based patient records, remote consultations, clinical information systems, computer-based decision support tools, mobile and wireless terminals, community health information networks, and new ways of distributing health information to professionals and consumers are supported by, and in some cases reliant on, the widespread use of networked telemedicine technologies. Grid technology acquires more importance today. The main advantage of ap!plication of Grid technology for eHealth is the new and effective opportunities for establishment and creation of eHealth networks as well as of implementation of clinical information systems and databases.

Objective of the Manuscript
The proposed publication will present a new model of Advanced Grid Technologies, Systems and Services to implement a new model of Virtual Organization for healthcare support. eHealth faces a growing need for large computations, pre-operative planning, medical interventions simulation, the building of anatomical and physiological models, surgery support in real time, etc., all of which could be successfully implemented through Grid technology. This publication aims to describe completed and ongoing research eHealth projects and activities in this field. It is planned to present Data/Information/Knowledge Grids as well as Collaborative Grids. Special emphasis will be placed on the following topics: clinical information system; distribution of computational resources; ensuring image processing algorithm’s accessibility; combining image data with other medical data, facilitating data access; bringing affordable solutions to respond to real problems in healthcare. Special attenti!
on will be paid to the following areas: ePharmacology, eImaging, eClinic and eLearning. Emphasis will be placed on presentation of: organization of clinical information system; timely and secure access of patient data; interoperability of medical databases of heterogenous content; computing intensive applications and knowledge discovery, eDiagnosis, Virtual Epidemiology.


Target Audience
The target audiences for the present publication are: healthcare professionals, eHealth and telemedicine specialists and researchers, IT specialists, healthcare authorities and managers.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to the following:
• Clinical information system
• Clinical diagnosis
• Medical databases
• eLearning
• Simulation
• eHealth networks
• Standardization
• Virtual Epidemiology

Submission Procedure
Researcher and practitioners are invited to submit on or before October 31, 2008 a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by November 30, 2008 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by February 28, 2009. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group Reference) and “Medical Information Science Reference” imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com.


Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document) to:
Ekaterina (Eka) Kldiashvili, Ph.D.
Georgian Telemedicine Union (Association)
75 Kostava str., 0171 Tbilisi, Georgia
Email: grid_technologies_for_ehealth@yahoo.com
Blog: www.gridtechnologiesfore-health.blogspot.com

Monday, July 21, 2008

Interesrting use of tech , Health Mapping

Here is an interesting site that some may find helpful. Came across it via another list..

It is: http://www.healthmap.org/en

It uses various resources including WHO, EuroSurveillience, ProMed Mail, etc. to track disease outbreaks wordwide. It is put up by Harverd-MIT Division of Heath Services and Technology. It is most definitely a Gee whiz kind of site - but
interesting none the less.

Regards


Bob
repyke@infionline.net
repyke@medetel.lu

Web 2.0: A Movement Within The Health Community

Dr Iain Doherty , Director, Learning Technology Unit; Faculty Medical and Health Sciences and The University of Auckland has published a fantastic and comprehensive article in Health Care and Informatics Review Online about web 2.0 and health. ...

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Considering telecare for someone with dementia

In this social worker’s blog he/she describes going to assess a client for the first time. It’s heartening to see that some form of telecare is automatically considered as part of that process
http://fightingmonsters.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/assumptions/

Bob
repyke@infionline.net
repyke@medetel.lu

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Registration for CST-2008

Registration is now open for Telehealth 2008, the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society of Telehealth. http://www.cst-sct.org/en/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=155

CST-2008 is scheduled to take place in Ottawa, Ontario October 4th thru' 7th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The theme for this years conference is "Convergence to Care: Patients, Providers and Technology" and the meeting is being held in conjunction with the International Society for Telemedicine and e-Health.

-Dr Trevor D. CradduckVice-President/President-ElectCanadian Society of Telehealth

trevor.cradduck@cst-sct.org1-250-468-9489 (O/H)1-250-714-5620 (Mobile)1-250-468-9459 (Fax)Blog: telehealthcanada.blogspot.com The 11th Annual CST Conference - Convergence to Care: Patients, Providers and Technology Crowne Plaza Hotel - Ottawa, Ontario; October 5-7th, 2008 For more information click here www.cst-sct.org

Telehealth Technologies Addressing the Global Impending Nursing Shortage

In addition to providing better care for patients at a distance, telehealth technology applications can provide a real means for the nursing profession to alleviate the impending nursing shortage. According to a report of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), there will be an unmet need for more than one million nurses in the United States by 2020.
http://www.nursingcenter.com/CareerCenter/static.asp?pageid=800469


Bob
repyke@infionline.net
repyke@medetel.lu

http://bob-thebobblog.blogspot.com/