Database-supported teleconferencing: an additional clinical mentoring tool to assist a multinational company HIV/AIDS treatment program in Africa. (73/246)

BACKGROUND: The lack of human resources for health is presently recognized as a major factor limiting scale-up of antiretroviral treatment (ART) programs in resourcelimited settings. The mobilization of public and private partners, the decentralization of care, and the training of non-HIV specialist nurses and general practitioners could help increase the number of HIV-infected patients receiving ART. In addition to other forms of training, scheduled teleconferences (TCs) have been organized to support a comprehensive HIV treatment program delivered by a private company's health team. OBJECTIVE: To describe the role of the TC as an additional tool in mentoring a company's health care workers (HCWs). METHOD: For this study, all TC reports were retrospectively reviewed and the questions classified by topic. Participating Heineken physicians evaluated the technical quality and scientific relevance of the TCs through an anonymous survey. RESULTS: From October 2001 to December 2003, 10 HCWs working in 14 operating companies in 5 African countries raised 268 problems during 45 TCs. A total of 79 questions (29%) were asked about antiretroviral (ARV) therapy, 53 (20%) about the diagnosis and treatment of opportunistic infection, 43 (16%) about ARV toxicity, 40 (15%) about care organization and policy, 32 (12%) about laboratory or drug supply, and 21 (8%) about biological parameters. The mean TC attendance rate was 70%. The level of satisfaction among local company physicians was 65% for logistics, 89% for scientific relevance, 84% for applicability of advice, and 85% overall. The most common complaints concerned the poor quality of the telephone connection and language problems for francophone participants. CONCLUSION: Database-supported teleconferencing could be an additional tool to mentor company HCWs in their routine care of HIV-infected workers and family members. The role and costeffectiveness of telemedicine in improving health outcomes should be further studied.  (+info)

Feasibility of using distributed Wireless Mesh Networks for medical emergency response. (74/246)

Achieving reliable, efficient data communications networks at disaster site is a difficult task. Network paradigms such as Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) architectures are one paradigm for providing high bandwidth scalable data communication. WMNs are formed by self-organized wireless nodes that use multi-hop wireless relaying for data communications. In this paper describe our experience using mesh network architecture broadband network developed for homeland security and medical emergency applications. We briefly discuss the architecture and present the traffic behavioral observations made by a client server applications tested during a large scale homeland security drill. The results suggest that 802.11 mesh networks are feasible and scalable systems for field communications. We also present our traffic measurements based on which we make essential requirements for such medical emergency response networks.  (+info)

Txt2MEDLINE: text-messaging access to MEDLINE/PubMed. (75/246)

We developed a text messaging system for processing incoming Short Message Service (SMS) queries, retrieving medical journal citations from MEDLINE/PubMed and sending them back to the user in the text message format. A database of medical terminology abbreviations and acronyms was developed to reduce the size of text in journal citations and abstracts because of the 160-character per message limit of text messages. Queries may be sent as full-length terms or abbreviations. An algorithm transforms the citations into the SMS format. An abbreviated TBL (the bottom-line) summary instead of the full abstract is sent to the mobile device to shorten the resulting text. The system decreases citation size by 77.5+/-7.9%. Txt2MEDLINE provides physicians and healthcare personnel another rapid and convenient method for searching MEDLINE/PubMed through wireless mobile devices. It is accessible from any location worldwide where GSM wireless service is available.  (+info)

A WiFi public address system for disaster management. (76/246)

The WiFi Bullhorn is designed to assist emergency workers in the event of a disaster situation by offering a rapidly configurable wireless of public address system for disaster sites. The current configuration plays either pre recorded or custom recorded messages and utilizes 802.11b networks for communication. Units can be position anywhere wireless coverage exists to help manage crowds or to recall first responders from dangerous areas.  (+info)

Visualization of roaming client/server connection patterns during a wirelessly enabled disaster response drill. (77/246)

Assessment of how well a multiple client server system is functioning is a difficult task. In this poster we present visualization tools for such assessments. Arranged on a timeline, UDP client connection events are point-like. TCP client events are structured into intervals. Informative patterns and correlations are revealed by both sets. For the latter, comparison of two visualization schemes on the same timeline yields additional insights.  (+info)

Disaster relief informatics: access to KatrinaHealth.org prescription data via OQO ultra mobile PC and cellular wireless connectivity. (78/246)

The flooding brought on by the twin storms of Katrina & Rita wrecked havoc on the healthcare delivery system of New Orleans. A million patients were displaced, and their paper records were rendered useless by water damage. Many physicians volunteered their efforts at caring for the displaced but very few had access to the patient prescription records aggregated by the DHHS at the KatrinaHealth.org website.  (+info)

Handheld computer application for medical disaster management. (79/246)

We developed a prototype system that can provide reliable communications in the event of a medical disaster. The system uses redundant wireless protocols on handheld computers to deploy medical personnel, and to facilitate communication between ancillary treatment sites and a command center.  (+info)

Use of communication technology among public health professionals in New South Wales, Australia. (80/246)

We explored how six forms of communication technology (teleconferencing, web bulletin boards, web conferencing, videoconferencing, media streaming and satellite television) are currently being used in public health work in NSW. Twelve public health professionals working in the NSW health service were interviewed. Teleconferencing and videoconferencing were the most commonly used forms of communication technology. Factors that facilitated use included ease of access to facilities and assistance in organising and setting up the technique. Barriers to use included cost and the perception that the equipment was hard to set up and operate. Participants identified factors that assisted them to engage with these techniques.  (+info)