Teleradiology—changing radiological service processes from local to regional, international and mobile environment

AbstractThe possibilities of teleradiology to modify the radiological service process in a regional, international and mobile setting were investigated by building new types of technical connections and then by evaluating their feasibility.First a teleradiology link based on low-end technology was built for primary care and hospital settings. On evaluation, the total diagnostic agreement between the transmitted images and the original films was 98%.Then, a work practice-oriented approach was used to gain an understanding of the relationship between the emerging teleradiology work practice and the newly implemented technology. Ethnographically informed fieldwork and cooperative workshops were utilized. According to findings, articulation work that supports the key tasks is mostly conducted at the receiving site, and radiologists have to rely on much less information in image interpretation. The decisions made at the sending site influence the outcome.To study the idea of consultations between different countries, a connection utilizing the Internet was built between university hospitals in Oulu, Reykjavik and Tromsø. After 131 images, a suitable image compression ratio was selected. Image quality and transfer time of the 80 clinical case readings were found to be adequate for teleradiology.A wireless image consultation system for radiological sub-specialist consultations based on a portable computer and a mobile phone with secure access to the hospital network was set up and tested. The transmitted images of 68 patients were acceptable for final diagnosis in 72% of the cases. The wireless link saved the senior radiologist a hospital visit in 24% of the cases.A smartphone was then used to communicate computed tomography scans in a feasibility study of 21 patient cases of brain attacks. All transmitted image series were suitable for giving a preliminary consultation to the clinic, and in one case even a final report could be made. In a real life clinical setting of the study with neuroradiological and neurosurgical emergencies, two different smartphone platforms with electronic patient record integration were built in European research projects and evaluated with sets of 115 and 150 patient cases. They were good for final diagnosis in 38% and 40% of the cases, respectively. The concept was found to be ready for clinical use.Finally a survey was made showing the status and trends of the usage of eHealth applications in Finland. The results from all the public health care providers and a representative sample of private providers showed that in 2005, teleradiology services were used by 18/21 hospital districts and the usage of all eHealth applications has progressed throughout the entire health care delivery system. Teleradiology services have become an integrated part of eHealth.Academic dissertation to be presented with the assent of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Oulu for public defence in Auditorium 7 of Oulu University Hospital, on 10 December 2010, at 12 noonAbstract The possibilities of teleradiology to modify the radiological service process in a regional, international and mobile setting were investigated by building new types of technical connections and then by evaluating their feasibility. First a teleradiology link based on low-end technology was built for primary care and hospital settings. On evaluation, the total diagnostic agreement between the transmitted images and the original films was 98%. Then, a work practice-oriented approach was used to gain an understanding of the relationship between the emerging teleradiology work practice and the newly implemented technology. Ethnographically informed fieldwork and cooperative workshops were utilized. According to findings, articulation work that supports the key tasks is mostly conducted at the receiving site, and radiologists have to rely on much less information in image interpretation. The decisions made at the sending site influence the outcome. To study the idea of consultations between different countries, a connection utilizing the Internet was built between university hospitals in Oulu, Reykjavik and Tromsø. After 131 images, a suitable image compression ratio was selected. Image quality and transfer time of the 80 clinical case readings were found to be adequate for teleradiology. A wireless image consultation system for radiological sub-specialist consultations based on a portable computer and a mobile phone with secure access to the hospital network was set up and tested. The transmitted images of 68 patients were acceptable for final diagnosis in 72% of the cases. The wireless link saved the senior radiologist a hospital visit in 24% of the cases. A smartphone was then used to communicate computed tomography scans in a feasibility study of 21 patient cases of brain attacks. All transmitted image series were suitable for giving a preliminary consultation to the clinic, and in one case even a final report could be made. In a real life clinical setting of the study with neuroradiological and neurosurgical emergencies, two different smartphone platforms with electronic patient record integration were built in European research projects and evaluated with sets of 115 and 150 patient cases. They were good for final diagnosis in 38% and 40% of the cases, respectively. The concept was found to be ready for clinical use. Finally a survey was made showing the status and trends of the usage of eHealth applications in Finland. The results from all the public health care providers and a representative sample of private providers showed that in 2005, teleradiology services were used by 18/21 hospital districts and the usage of all eHealth applications has progressed throughout the entire health care delivery system. Teleradiology services have become an integrated part of eHealth

Transnational comparison : A retrospective study on e-health in sparsely populated areas of the northern periphery

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Emergence of teleradiology, PACS, and other radiology IT solutions in <em>Acta Radiologica</em>

AbstractFor this historical review, we searched a database containing all the articles published in Acta Radiologica during its 100-year history to find those on the use of information technology (IT) in radiology. After reading the full texts, we selected the presented articles according to major radiology IT domains such as teleradiology, picture archiving and communication systems, image processing, image analysis, and computer-aided diagnostics in order to describe the development as it appeared in the journal. Publications generally follow IT megatrends, but because the contents of Acta Radiologica are mainly clinically oriented, some technology achievements appear later than they do in journals discussing mainly imaging informatics topics.Abstract For this historical review, we searched a database containing all the articles published in Acta Radiologica during its 100-year history to find those on the use of information technology (IT) in radiology. After reading the full texts, we selected the presented articles according to major radiology IT domains such as teleradiology, picture archiving and communication systems, image processing, image analysis, and computer-aided diagnostics in order to describe the development as it appeared in the journal. Publications generally follow IT megatrends, but because the contents of Acta Radiologica are mainly clinically oriented, some technology achievements appear later than they do in journals discussing mainly imaging informatics topics

Greetings from the Finnish Society for Telemedicine and eHealth

FSTeH Greeting

Suomalaisten lääkäreiden ja hammaslääkäreiden terveydenhuollon tietotekniikan erityispätevyys: tavoitteet, sisältö ja ensikokemukset

Finland was to our knowledge the first country in Europe to establish a professional special competence for healthcare information technology (eHealth) since 2012 to physicians and since 2015 to dentists. The special competence requires two year full time service and theoretical studies after a qualified medical specialist consultant status. Those who have earned the title are thus already experienced medical doctors and dentists. The new competence gives them an ability to utilize their knowledge about health care processes for the benefit of the new eHealth and mHealth services. By the end of year 2016 total 87 professionals have been enrolled to the program and 58 physicians and 3 dentists have already graduated. Those graduated have found positions as leading healthcare information technology experts or in administrative tasks in regional or national eHealth and mHealth projects. The special competence program is a joint effort of Finnish Society of Telemedicine and eHealth, Finnish Medical Association and Finnish Dental Association.Terveydenhuollon tietotekniikan (e-terveyspalvelujen) ammatillinen erityispätevyys edistää lääkärien ja hammaslääkärien kiinnostusta ja sitoutumista terveydenhuollon tietoteknologian hyödyntämiseen ja sähköisten terveyspalvelujen kehittämiseen. Suomi perusti tämän erityispätevyyden ensimmäisenä maana Euroopassa lääkäreille joulukuussa 2012, hammaslääkärit liittyivät mukaan vuonna 2015. Pätevyyden saavuttaminen edellyttää yhteensä kahden vuoden työskentelyä sähköisten terveyspalvelujen alalla sekä teoreettisia opintoja. Pohjakoulutuksena edellytetään pääsääntöisesti erikoislääkärin tutkintoa ja osaaminen osoitetaan rakenteisella portfoliolla. Tavoitteena on siten tarjota pätevöitymismahdollisuutta jo käytännön työssä kokeneille toimijoille. Koulutukseen oli vuoden 2016 loppuun mennessä ilmoittautunut yhteensä 87 henkeä ja pätevyyden oli näistä jo loppuun suorittanut 58 lääkäriä ja 3 hammaslääkäriä. Valmistuneet saavat valmiudet toimiakseen johtavina asiantuntijoina tai hallinnollisissa tehtävissä kehitettäessä sähköisten tai mobiilien terveyspalvelujen prosesseja alueellisissa tai kansallisissa hankkeissa. Erityispätevyydestä vastaavat yhdessä Suomen telelääketieteen ja eHealth seura, Suomen Lääkäriliitto ja Suomen Hammaslääkäriliitto

Suomen Telelääketieteen ja eHealth seuran tervehdys

STeHS tervehdy