Remedy

							Anita Helgesson Organizationaldeveloper in the Care Services Administration of Vännäs municipality, County Council of Västerbotten, Sweden

Curt Hörnqvist Executive director of Social Welfare department in Vännäs, Sweden

Remote telematic solutions for patient diagnoses and the training of healthcare professionals in sparsely populated areas
o REMEDY is a collaborative European
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Northern Periphery Programme Project.

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Partners

o It is run by the lead partner,

o o

o
o
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o

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The Care Services Administration of Vännäs municipality in Sweden, in co- operation with County council of Västerbotten, Sweden University of Umeå, Sweden University of Aberdeen, Scotland Highlands and Islands Health Research Institute, Scotland Kainuu health care and special service district, Finland

Background

Background • During the period 1999-2001, a telemedical project called Telematic Services for the Elderly (TSE) took place. • Its aim was to develop the transfer of information in relation to co-ordinated care planning by the use of a systematic check-list and the video conferencing technique.

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Background

The project has been scientifically evaluated and today forms a regular part of the activities taking place between:
• The Care Services Administration • Vännäs healthcare centre • The Geriatric Centre at The University Hospital of Northern Sweden.

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Background

Furthermore, this mode of working is currently being implemented in project form in the following municipalities of Västerbotten: Nordmaling, Robertsfors and Holmsund and in the emergency ward at The University Hospital of Northern Sweden.
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Background

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The experiences and results of the TSE-project clearly show the need for a systematic and standardised working method in the practical use of IT as well as the importance of the ethical aspects of the staff’s professional stance and way of dealing with patients in patient-oriented work within the care services.

Background

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Against this background, planning of a follow-up in the form of an international project was initiated with a view to ensuring that the quality of patientbased care provided with the help of IT support is as good as that of conventional care. This work resulted in the co-operative project known as REMEDY.

Aim

AIM o The main aim of REMEDY is to develop a European standard for the education and skills training of nursing staff in telemedicine as well as offering certification at different levels.
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Aim

o Furthermore, the work focuses on the

importance of the ethical aspects of dealing with patients and the professional stance of staff in patientoriented work within the Care Services
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Input

o The input from Finland is focused on the

development of gerontechnology and the use of telemedicine in clinical work.

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Input

o The input from Sweden is focused on

the development of systematic methods for dealing with communication and information transfer when using telemedicine in clinical as well as the ethical aspects of this work.
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Input

o The input from Scotland is focused on IT

as a means of providing healthcare professionals in remote areas with access to training and education in the use of telemedicine.
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Linkages

Finland • Changing experience and information as
well as evaluating the videoconference training has been done.
• Visiting the Kemi-Tornio Polytechnic school, dealing with the gerontechonolgy issues of the project.

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Linkages

Scotland • videoconferencing for education network
• Role of Telemedicine Provision in Emergency Care in Remote Communities (Grampian wide) • RACHEL (Royal Alexandra Cardiovascular Health Electronic Links) • Telemedicine Support • Clinical Psychology • Telemedicine Project -HIHRI
(Highlands and Islands Health Research Institute)

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Linkages

Sweden • The project Security in the care chain2
• Contact with Carelink, an organisation for IT-development and co-operation within ”care Sweden”.
Carelink is supported by the Swedish State (The National Board of Health and Welfare), the Federation of County Councils, the National Association of Local Authorities, the Organisation of Private Carers, and the National Corporation of Swedish Pharmacies

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Spatial development

• Enables people living in remote areas to
get the health care services in their own health care center that they previously had to travel long for. • Possibly to ensure the necessary health care services in a situation when there is lack of doctors in the area.

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Spatial development

• The project brings together the expertise
available in telemedicine in Scotland, Sweden and Finland. • Through transnational co-operation on spatial planning, the partners ar working transnationally to share tools and resources to tackle common problems and to exchange experiences, knowledge and best practise.

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Sustainable development

• People in remote areas could live longer
in their own familiar environment.
• Patients will be less often obliged to travel • Opportunity for staff working in sparsely populated areas to consult with colleagues and specialists
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o The Scottish six-step work package will

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develop and produce a telemedical training course for multidisciplinary healthcare teams, which will be standardised in Scotland, Sweden and Finland following pilot projects in these countries. o This development work will take place during the period 2002-2005.

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Stage 1
o The first stage of the project is to

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conduct a literature review of relevant information relating to training in the use of telemedicine equipment. o This information will be gathered from published papers, conference proceedings and personal interviews which will reflect pan European requirements for remote areas.

Stage 2
o A list of users competencies, skill levels

and training needs will be compiled with input from all countries.

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Stage 3
o A flexible training matrix will be

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developed. o This will then be produced as an electronic training manual, which will be used to conduct telemedicine training programmes by means of videoconference.

Stage 4
o A pilot programme will be undertaken

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in order to gain information relating to the strengths and weaknesses of the training programme. o This pilot programme will take place in test beds in the three participating countries.

Stage 5
o The flexible training matrix will then be

modified in relation to the findinngs from the pilot course.

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Stage 6
o An electronic training manual will be

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produced, which will provide the necessary guidance for conducting training courses for members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team. o The actual course content will be established by selecting the modules appropriate to the specific clinical or educational requirement.

Information diffusion

Finland
•Press conferences in: • Suomussalmi about telemedicine
(January 2nd 2003)

•Sotkamo about gernotechonology
(March 21st 2003)

• Three interviews have been given to the
newspapers about remote consultations
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• Presentation were given in the National telemedicine seminar in Iverness.
Meeting The Canadian Swedish Business Association In Uppsala, Sweden, The 18th of September 2003

Information diffusion

Scotland Presentations to/at: • Highlands and Islands Reserch Unit • Scottish Telemedicine Association Forum • Tele-oncology telemedicine research project • Member of regional advisory group at Iverness • ITU conference in Geneva • London Telemed Foru, Royal Society of Medicin

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Information diffusion

Sweden Presentations to/at:
• Seminar in Skellefteå arranged by Memeologen
• the Lecturer, Director of studies and Instructor of the Department of nursing at Umeå University.

• RAK-project (Rätt Använd Kompetens -correct use of competence) contact persons in Skellefteå.
• the Church of Sweden, the Red Cross, PRO and SPF in the municipality of Vännäs and to relatives and next of kin belonging to support groups at the Frivillig Center in Vännäs.

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Information diffusion

Sweden Presentations to/at:
• approx.100 members of the general public and health services staff.
• the municipalities of Vindeln and Umeå. • Carelink (national network for the diffusion and development of IT-support within the health services) in Stockholm.
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• the regional management group of the RAK-project in Umeå. • PRO-Solbacken in Vännäs.

Information diffusion

Sweden Presentations to/at:
• the municipality of Vilhelmina and Vilhelmina health centre. • the municipality of Norsjö and Norsjö local hospital. • a national conference entitled “IT i Tiden” in Luleå arranged by the Sapientia
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• a lecture was held in Skellefteå, arranged by Västerbotten Geriatric Centre.

Information diffusion

Sweden Presentations to/at:
• partners’ project meeting in Inverness

• the ITU conference in Geneva
• national prioritisation conference in Umeå • Nordic-Scottish conferense on regional policy matters in Örnsköldsvik
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This development work will take place during the period 2002-2005.

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