Telelaboratory
The Tele-laboratory service allows to carry out tests which are usually executed inside a clinical laboratory practically in any place thanks to portable analysis equipment which can be checked remotely, data transmission and a PKI infrastructure which guarantee the authenticity the confidentiality and the legal value of the data transmitted.
Tele-laboratory service in homecare- market validation phase
Introduction
The need to carry out periodic exams on chronic patients included in an Integrated Home Assistance (ADI ? Assistenza Domiciliare Integrata) program and elders admitted to elderly homes has a great impact on health authorities? finance as it requires a complex procedure involving several actors and the transfer of healthcare professionals and material.
The Tele-laboratory service allows to perform blood examinations at the patient?s place.
Objectives
The objectives of the service are:
rationalising the use of human resources;
reducing the cost of this high-volume medical procedure;
shortening the laps of time between the exam and the availability of results and between the availability of results and their handling by the prescribing doctor;
increasing data confidentiality protection by avoiding the results to be handled and seen by other people apart from the sender and the receiver (data are encrypted and digitally signed).
Description
The current workflow of this exam is composed of the following steps (see Figure A):
The GP visits the patient at an elderly home;
The GP examines the patient and fill in a paper order;
A person from the elderly home staff goes physically to the Unified Booking Centre (CUP) of the local hospital to book the exam;
A CUP operator books the exam and delivers a confirmation coupon which must accompany the blood sample flask;
The elderly home employee returns to the elderly home;
A nurse of the elderly home takes a blood sample and put together sample and patient?s coupon;
A person from the elderly home staff takes the samples to the CUP;
The CUP operator sends the samples to the laboratory;
The laboratory staff carry out the analysis;
The laboratory sends the results to the CUP;
A person from the elderly home fetches the results from the CUP;
The person brings the results back to the elderly home;
When necessary, the GP on duty is called to have an opinion on the results.
Figure A - Blood examination in ADI - Traditional workflow
A trial with these new palm-sets is currently underway in Treviso and Venice. In the context of HEALTH OPTIMUM, this very limited pilot experience will be extended to other areas of Regione Veneto and to Finland and Spain. This will allow to market-validate the approach in terms of acceptance by professionals and long-term sustainability of the service. The advantages of this new solution will be analysed in terms of both cost savings and increased productivity of the healthcare structures.
