Telemedicine in Bulgaria

This article is focused on the Bulgarian tendencies and initiatives in the development and application of the telemedicine and the importance of the evidence-based telemedicine. The paper presents separate modules, including Education in telemedicine, where are introduced telemedical systems, the healthcare system in BG itself, magazines, journals and conferences, and finally – the authors experience in telemedical solutions and implementations

mHealth Solution in Bulgaria

mHealth by definition is health care, realized through mobile devices for specialized procedures, information exchange, expertize and effects on patients and healthy way of life. As a technologically assisted action, it ensures dynamic unique interactions and contacts - temporary and permanent, on topics and problems of healthcare, as well as providing medical services to individuals and large contingents in unforeseeable circumstances and conditions. The paper presents project of a network for provision of continuity of care with telemedical and telehealth services between Greece and Bulgaria which will: be based on the Internet and 3rd/4th generation GSM services; handle the medical records of citizens of both countries, allow the patients themselves or those responsible for their care to enter data or to utilize for this purpose electronic devices that can do the task automatically (e.g., glucose measuring devices, portable ECG machines, spirometry devices etc); permit the treating physician to continuously monitor his patient's progress from a distance; permit the diffusion and dissemination (to specific target groups) of health related information; use smart card technology to fortify the security of data contained in the patients' records and provide tele-education for the medical and paramedical personnel involved in the project. mHealth applications ensure collection of health and clinical data, delivering health information and real-time monioring of vital signs, and direct provision of information in different stages of its acquisition and processing. Small and convenient size, low power consumption, they can be integrated almost everywhere: furniture, automobiles and even clothes. Mobile phones or personal digital assistants (PDA) with wireless networking capabilities, can serve as inputs to the processes of storage and transfer of recorded and measured parameters to clinicians, selected by their subsequent applications. Patients, involved in the current project, using their mobile phones will be able to send and receive short text messages. They can initiate telephone calls related to health information and education, study therapeutic schemes for meetings and consultations, transport to health experts, even just for support and courage

Hospital Information Systems in Bulgaria – 20 Years of Experience

This paper is devoted to one very exotic, strange at first sight and unusual approach for historical investigation of information systems (IS) in medicine and healthcare in Bulgaria. Our purpose is to explore and make a research, based on 20 years old evaluation scheme for health and medical information systems, and to evaluate the newest and most famous in Bulgarian medical practice developed hospital software systems

Exploitation results of MIS Imunolog

The software solution “Imunolog”, presented in this paper, is developed after winning international project between University Hospital Alexandrovska, New Bulgarian University and Barcelona Medical University. The fundamental initiative is to localize the main predispositions for this disease based on the statistic data from Bulgarian patients, the relationship between treatment and following manifestations of the disease, sequence of results from a concrete therapy and human body systems reactions and adaptation. In our country there are no investigations and results, regardless of the enormous database of paper epicrysis, visits and anamnesis. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a widespread disease with unknown cause, which attacks person's immune system and injures the body's own organs and tissues. We have addressed this problem and devised a software system for assessing both current lupus disease activity and changes in that activity since the patient`s last visit. Imunolog©® is retrospective database with strictly defined purpose objectives – to explore causes, treatment schemes, manifestations and reactions of all available patients in Bulgaria since 1960. It is a result of won international project between University Hospital Alexandrovska, New Bulgarian University and Barcelona Medical University

Teleconsult – One Telemedical Solution in Bulgaria

The mission of Telemedicine is to provide medical services independent of geographical distances between the involved sites. Through Telemedicine patients can get access to medical expertise that may not be available at the patients’ site. Experience over the last decade has shown that the goals of Telemedicine are not automatically reached by the introduction and use of particular new technologies per se, but rather require the implementation of integral services and specialized information systems. Software Teleconsult aims to provide logistic and telemedical services between two distant hospitals on the territory of Bulgaria. By definition TIS is an information system necessary for the implementation of telemedicine services. Our development is a product with three layer architecture – expert’s, operator’s and administrator’s modules. Each of the profiles has specific functions and characteristics, discussed and experimentally introduced to the users. This paper is focused on presenting the system itself, as well the implementation experience and different module parameters

Telemedicine in Bulgaria

Abstract: This article is focused on the Bulgarian tendencies and iniciatives in the development and application of the telemedicine and the importance of the evidence-based telemedicine. The paper presents separate modules, including Education in telemedicine, where are introduced telemedical systems, the healthcare system in BG itself, magazines, journals and conferences, and finally -the authors experience in telemedical solutions and implementations

Milestone Before/After Analysis of Telemedicine Implementation

This article is focused on description and evaluation of telemedical benefits for the users and participants in medical services, that work in conditions of telepracticing. It is dedicated to a newly introduced software solution for the purposes of distant medical consultation and diagnostic processes in Bulgaria that has been exploited for 6 months period and evaluated by 20 users in 2 hospitals

Model of Electronic Health Record for Gynecology Practice in Bulgaria

The Health Information Management Systems Society’s (HIMSS) definition of EHRs is: “a longitudinal electronic record of patient health information generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting. Included in this information are patient demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data, and radiology reports. The EHR automates and streamlines the clinician's work flow. The EHR has the ability to generate a complete record of a clinical patient encounter, as well as supporting other care-related activities directly or indirectly via interface—including evidence-based decision support, quality management, and outcomes reporting.” It is important to note that an EHR is generated and maintained within an institution, such as a hospital, integrated delivery network, clinic, or physician office. An EHR is not a longitudinal record of all care provided to the patient in all venues over time. This paper presents a functional software development, specialized for obstetrics and gynecology practice in Bulgarian medical environment. The record design is subordinated to the Bulgarian and international medical laws for tracing the pregnancy period. It consists of three separated modules – medical history of the patient, administrative data, tracing the pregnancy in 3 trimesters with various tests and medical analyzes, different for each trimester. It allows multimedia history archive, heart rate records, 3D/4D video records, fetal morphology history, biochemical screening record, weekly echograph records and full laboratory history at simple screen. It performs telemedical functions through the possibility to connect from every point with Internet and to be accessible both – for patient and doctor. The EHR is unique for Bulgarian gynecology medical practice. It combines the validate paper version of pregnant patient record with separate medical exams that are performed from different specialists and genetic laboratories

How to Choose a Suitable Technology for Teleconsultations

In this paper are discussed different versions of solutions for consultations from distance. It will be presented review of consultations through web-site, portal, bridge and cell phone - examples of the different technical and virtual schemes, used in telemedicine. Based on our experience we would discuss positive and negative factors, which can influence the choice of a concrete working model for telemedical practice. As a successful example would be presented one solution, which is based on several interoperating systems: Desktop software that is composed of: a patient database access module, an administrator module and an operator module; a teleconference software solution, a forum and a mail module