Ricability

December 30, 2008 | by

Ricability is the trading name of the Research Institute for Consumer Affairs. It is a national research charity that provides independent, unbiased information for disabled and older consumers. Its consumer reports are based on independent rigorous testing and research.

Ricability also works with manufacturers, service providers, regulators and policy makers to improve products and services. The aim is to increase their awareness of the needs of disabled and older consumers through specialist research.

The product review site provides an easy way for individual consumers to give their views of the products they use.

TanJent

December 30, 2008 | by

Telecare services will expand over coming years. Projects in many countries are now well underway. They can offer patients, carers, healthcare professionals and organisations significant benefits, but stories of successes are not always the outcome. Many tales of neutrality and failure, and are published regularly, showing that investment plans and preparations were limited in their rigour and realism.

Avoidable limitations

These limitations are avoidable. TanJent has been evaluating actual and planned investment in many EU Member States and other countries for many years, and has built up a base of knowledge of socio-economic impacts (SEI) that can steer telecare, telemedicine and telehealth investment in sound directions that deliver sustainable measurable benefits that exceed the investment costs over time; a net benefit.

Examples of factors that must be included are realistic timescales to reach a net benefit, often longer than people expect, the resources needed to develop and change existing services, and the impact of risks. Examples of features that to avoid are people expecting healthcare professionals to use telecare at an unrealistically high rate, and then expect significant benefits over timescales that are too short. Assessing these in advance needs appropriate modelling of the overall SEI.

Creating viable, realistic telecare investment can rely on proven modelling that TanJent has developed and used since 2001. Since then, over 40 different settings have used versions of TanJent’s’ models, including ten sites in two major EC projects, and available at www.ehealth-impact.org and www.ehr-impact.eu. The aim is to identify and evaluate the conditions that lead to an optimum SEI and within this, identify the financial and financing impact on the main health and social care organisations, essentially the returns on their investments (ROI). Too many decisions rely on the more limited ROI assessments and miss the more important SEI.

From these, decisions can be modelled, structured, realistic, monitored and modified as needed. The SEI models used a combination of findings from existing investment and the requirements of the planned investment. Completing the SEI decision models is rapid, leaving decision-takers to deal with the core factors that can lead to success and avoid a lesser outcome. This knowledge then remains with people in the organisations providing services to patients and carers.

 

Tom Jones FRSA FRSM

TANJENT CONSULTANCY

0044 (0) 7802 336 229

Email: tomjones@tanjent.co.uk

Skype: tanjenttj

Website: http://www.tanjent.co.uk/

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E-vita

December 30, 2008 | by

project evita logo

Telehealth systems are becoming an essential part of the mix in healthcare services: they keep constant surveillance on patients with long term illnesses and disabilities.

The EvaWare Project E-vita Telehealth Platform benefits patients, health authorities and doctors because patients can be monitored far more frequently and without the need to visit their doctor or hospital. Health authorities benefit from reduced admissions costs, and doctors have fewer patient visits and a more manageable workload.

The Telehealth Platform enables clinicians to monitor the vital signs of their home-based patients almost constantly. It automatically sends email or SMS text alerts when pre-determined clinical thresholds are breached. The platform is easily configured according to the individual needs of each patient and it can regularly check throughout the day a range of vital signs such as pulse rate, blood pressure, temperature, peak flow, blood glucose, weight (Even ECG) and many other parameters.

The E-vita platform works so efficiently and flexibly because it combines monitoring data obtained via the Bluetooth-enabled RTX Telehealth Monitor and integrates fully with EvaWare’s Patient Record solution. The platform’s unique scripting functionality enables a series of questions and answers to be configured, allowing the patient to interact with the system using simple Yes/No buttons to describe their symptoms/condition. The Telehealth Platform modifies each question depending on the answer to previous questions in much the same way as a doctor would, thereby producing an accurate assessment of the patient’s condition. The patient’s EPR is updated immediately and made available to all authorised clinicians.

Being integrated with a full EPR system gives clinicians the ability to record all other data about a patient’s treatment including visits by healthcare professionals and admissions to hospitals. The uploading of medical imagery and other documents provides a complete and comprehensive picture of the patient’s history and current condition. The Telehealth Platform can be reconfigured easily, quickly and remotely without the need for on-site support.

Project E-vita™

Project E-vita is a ground-breaking product in the market of healthcare management systems and electronic patient records. It is a feature-rich environment designed to meet the requirements of clinicians, administrators and managers alike. The system architecture is shaped to simplify the recording of all patient encounter data whether in primary care, community care or hospital/acute Care environments. Project E-vita website

Evaware

Evaware is a Microsoft Certified Partner based in England and Isle of Man. The RTX Telehealth monitor is EU Medical Device Directive EN60601 certified and also United States FDA K510 approved.

EvaWare Ltd

PO Box 266

Douglas

Isle of Man

IM99 3PR

Office: +44 (0)7000 784437

Fax: +44 (0)1624 619909

Email: sales@evaware.com

Internet: http://www.evaware.com

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COMPANY CONCERNED

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