Digital Pulse - Chap 3 - Sec 4 - CERTI Telemedicine Project

Development Issues: Health

Programme Summary

The CERTI (Reference Centers for Technology Innovation) Foundation is a private non-profit research organisation dedicated to technological innovation for societal purposes. They are "pursuing an agenda to help the country to play a pivotal role on [development/technological] issues concerning the growing impact of ICTs on society." CERTI focuses its activities on the productive chain of information technology. One of CERTI's most recent technological products, the development of the Brazilian electronic voting machine, exemplifies the Foundation's effort to align its R&D experience with information and communication technologies and the digital convergence. with 15 years of experience, the foundation focuses its activities on the productive chain of information technology, through the integrated operation of its four Reference Centers. CERTI has developed several projects that have applications for the promotion of health and wellness.

CERTI works in conjunction with a host of other governmental and non-governmental agencies to utilize ICTs in efforts to improve various aspects of service delivery for Brazilians. At the heart of CERTI's vision is the effort to address one of the more critical aspects of modern human development – “info inclusion.”

Summary of ICT Initiatives

The Telemedicine project, developed by CERTI Foundation, is intended to evaluate technical and operational aspects of the implementation of a broadband application using ADSL modems to transmit digital image, video and audio over the Internet. This project includes two main applications.

The first is a Diagnosis Radiological Station that consists of software to support the diagnostic usage of radiological images from any computer that has access to a Medical Image Database, via DICOM standard. This software allows remote access to radiological images of a hospital. The other application is the:

Virtual Diagnosis Room is a piece of software that can be used with the Diagnosis Radiological Station to let many physicians in different places see and analyze the same image set, interact with the images, and to share a report editor in a chat mode and common audio channel. The radiologists can discuss their ideas and opinions about difficult cases and also explain the diagnostic and recommend procedures to the physician that requested the exam.There are many benefits that can be achieved by this project: the cost reduction for using images and lessening x-ray printing, optimization of the diagnosis process with few radiologists working in a central diagnosis, decreasing the number of trips of the radiologists, and providing better medical attention in small towns that could not afford to have a specialist as a local resident.Another project that has been developed by CERTI is a project for improving access to self-help tools.Self-help on the Web is a model of virtual environment for helping people in crisis, in real time, using modern IT resources with interactive video, audio and text. This model provides clients and specialists with the possibility of individual attention with service open to the general public 24 hours a day, including information, orientation, virtual appointment, groups of mutual help and knowledge updating. To offer this service to the poor, CERTI developed a special application using a public access terminal to the Internet (Web Terminal). The solution uses IT resources and a broadband access (ADSL) that allows interaction via the Internet, operating with VoIP, videoconference and electronic forum – the Web Terminal is equipped with a video camera and a telephone. If the user agrees the specialist can collect some preliminary information through the video camera. If the user prefers, he/she can remain anonymous. He/she can choose to communicate using the chat, and the specialist has the ability to conduct the session by controlling the navigation to illustrate his/her explanation or to show images that provide some help to the person in crisis. Cooperative work and learning are very effective in initiating communication between the specialist and the user. The main application is the Virtual Assistance to People in Crisis and cases of Chemical Dependence. Other programs are being developed for pregnancy, diabetes, hypertension, HIV/AIDS, alcoholism, etc. The assistance model adopts the concept of meeting rooms where the interactive agents learn more about themselves, acquire the capacity to exam, and change their behaviour and attitude. Moreover, they increase their capacity to endure the reality and expectations from third parties or from their own.

Observations

CERTI works in conjunction with a host of other governmental and non-governmental agencies to utilize ICTs in efforts to improve various aspects of service delivery for Brazilians. At the heart of CERTI's vision is the effort to address one of the more critical aspects of modern human development – “info inclusion.” CERTI's strategic efforts are thus attempting to improve the connectivity and access for as many Brazilians as possible.

Source: PDF documents about CERTI provided by Paulo de Miranda 10/01/01 and the CERTI website.

For More Information Contact:

International Institutional Liaison Leader,

Knowledge Society Project, CERTI Foundation,

Florianópolis, SC - Brazil

pcg@certi.org.br