For the last two years, the event has been organized in association with HL7 Argentina and last year, new mechanisms were set up which allowed speeches and debates to be shared with a wider audience. Via a system of virtual auditoriums, the Conference was transmitted live online, allowing 535 people from different countries and Argentinian provinces to attend. The majority of attendees were from Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Venezuela but Mexico, Ecuador, Spain, Brazil, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Belgium, Italy and the Bahamas were all represented. They accompanied the 200 who came to the Hospital in person to attend the Conference. 40% of the attendees came from the professional healthcare sector; mostly doctors and nurses, another 40% was made up of engineers and systems analysts while the remaining 20% represented diverse occupations (including healthcare organization administrators, other areas of engineering and some information systems specialists.)
Another notable aspect was that this year 2 internationally renowned figures, Dean Sittig and Ed Hammond, gave presentations, 10 more panelists came from overseas, of whom over half were presidents of associations supporting various different E-Health projects in their respective countries, and 27 panelists came from Argentina, bringing different experiences, such as that of the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires Information Technology System and those of other hospitals and clinics across the Republic of Argentina.
7 free workshops and activities were also held over the 3 days, each involving between 20 and 30 people. They included a visit to the hospital, visual displays of the different information systems that exist in the region, and theoretical and practical courses exploring fundamental aspects of Healthcare Information Technology, with some brave souls even taking the course for the HL7 certification exam.
“Next year, we want to benefit from even more experiences, so in the surveys we are asking participants to express interest in taking part as speakers, as well as indicating what they think should be the central theme for 2012,” said Dr. Analía Baum, a member of the Conference’s organizing committee. Those who were unable to take part can access all the Event materials (presentations and recordings) by visiting the web page of the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires Information Technology Department at http://www.hospitalitaliano.org.ar/infomed/
Anyone interested in getting involved next year can write to the organizers via the Contact button on the same page.
