Over the last 3 years, information technology and connectivity has been strengthened in hospitals and health institutions throughout the province. The service now uses the “Elluminate” platform which makes interactive participation over multiple nodes connected over the internet possible in order to provide online training. It is also used to provide second medical opinions and to send vital information (eg: electrocardiograms) for telediagnosis.
In the Casa de Gobierno, the Department for Information Technology at the Ministry of Health presented recent advances in telemedicine in the Province of Mendoza. The first stage saw the modernization of equipment and the implementation of connectivity in hospitals and health institutions throughout the Province. Later, in a joint effort with the Ministry’s Department of Research, Teaching and Research Committees coordinated the opening of successive TeleHealthcare Nodes in institutions and hospitals. These resources were first used to provide a “Course in Research Methodology.”
Today, 40 nodes are connected to the “Elluminate” platform, provided by agreement with the National Academy of Medicine. This powerful information technology tool allows for interactive use of connected nodes and the On Line creation of a virtual classroom where the lecturer can be seen and heard by webcam, transmit Power Point presentations or educational videos and also interact with the nodes, to answer their questions (with audio and video) which all participants can ask in real time.
To achieve this goal, the Ministry of Health provided 40 multimedia kits containing special high spec microphones, web cameras and powered speakers.
Presenting the system, the Minister for Health, Juan Carlos Behler, stated “Today we can transmit information, video and voice messages as well as medical imaging from one part of the Province to the other and this means that we will not necessarily have to move the patient if an opinion from a specialist center is needed. It also allows us to provide a system of virtual classrooms so that people won’t have to go to the capital of the province to receive training, i.e. anyone working in the health environment will have the same access to training wherever they are.”
The Director of Information Technology, Eng. Osvaldo García, explained “The basic objective of the network is to bring together the independent and isolated efforts which have been operating over the internet in recent years.”
Source: The Mendoza Ministry of Health
