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Newsletter
January 2014

"Sharing this Newsletter with 20,000 Telemedicine/eHealth Professionals around the Globe"

In This Issue
Join the ISfTeH
Upcoming Telemedicine Events
ISfTeH Ambassadors
ISfTeH Board Members
New ISfTeH Members
Partnerships
Letter from the Executive Director
ISfTeH Meetings and Conferences
National Member Spotlight
Board Member Spotlight
Corporate Member Spotlight
Changes in the Board
Member News
Working Groups
Announcements
Join Our Mailing List
Partners
Dear all, 
It is a great pleasure to inform you that the European Medical Students' Association - EMSA and the International Society for Telemedicine and eHealth - ISfTeH have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, thus starting a new chapter in the EMSA history, that of Telemedicine and eHealth. 
We do believe that the infrastructure of Telemedicine and eHealth is becoming an important link in the chain of Health System, providing an easier Practical Medicine and a better Health care for our patients all around the World. 
Telemedicine and eHealth is, in continuity, breaking the barriers and crossing the borders, bringing each day, closer to each other, every person that is involved in the Health System, thus we find it necessary to bring this new system, closer to our friends/students, so they can benefit from it intellectually and professionally. 
We are bringing closer the UP-TO-DATE Medicine to everyone. 
Together we can change the world !

Join the ISfTeH

Are you heading a national telemedicine/eHealth organization?

 

Do you offer telemedicine products and solutions?

 

Are you doing research on telemedicine and eHealth applications and technologies?

 

Does your organization provide (or wants to offer) care services by means of telemedicine/eHealth technologies?

 

Are you engaged in healthcare policy?

 

If so, you may be interested in joining the ISfTeH network to expand your global reach or to learn from existing experiences and best practices.
  

 

Or send an 
e-mail with your question or membership request.

Upcoming ISfTeH-Supported

Telemedicine Events


Med-e-Tel 2014 

Luxembourg

April 9-11, 2014

_________

 

Geneva Health Forum 

Geneva, Switzerland

April 15-17, 2014

_________

 

19th Finnish National Conference on Telemedicine and eHealth

Tallinn, Estonia

April 23-24, 2014

__________

 

19th ISfTeH International Conference - 5th Carrefour de la Telesante 

Paris, France

Oct 16-17, 2014

__________ 

 

For more information on Overall Telemedicine Conferences and Events, click here.

    

ISfTeH Ambassadors

 Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

 

Dr. Emilio Rui Vilar, President of the Gulbenkian Foundation

 

Peter Gabriel, Eminent Musician

 

Prof. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Former President of Brazil

 

Lord Nigel Crisp, Former CEO of the NHS, UK

 

Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and CEO of Econet Wireless Group

ISfTeH Board Members

President

Dr. Andy Fischer

Switzerland

 

Vice President

Mr. Steven Normandin

U.S.A.

 

Secretary and Treasurer

Mr. Frank Lievens

Belgium

Other Members

 

Prof. Rupert Gerzer

Germany

 

Dr. Pirkko Kouri 

Finland 

 

Prof. Rifat Latifi  

 Prof. Rifat Latifi  

U.S.A. 

  

Dr. Moretlo molefi  

Dr. Moretlo Lynette Molefi

South Africa

 

    

Prof. Anthony Maeder 

Australia  

 

 

Dr. Andre Petitet

France

  


Dr. Adolfo Sparenberg

Brazil 

 

Executive Director

 

Prof. Yunkap Kwankam

 Switzerland

ISfTeH New Members

       


Associate

  

Inter-regional Society of Teledermatology,

Russian Federation

 

Institutional 

 

NIGERIAN ARMY MEDICAL CORP,

Nigeria

 

Corporate

  

TELE-MT,

Russian Federation

 

Individuals

 

Aissa Khelifa,

France

 

Lawrence Wasserman,

U.S.A.

 

Frederick North,

U.S.A.

 

Anna E. Schmaus-Klughammer,

Germany

 

Ben Boedeker,

U.S.A.

 

Daniel Chiacchiara,

Argentina

 

Elmar Kotter,

Germany

 

Students

 

Dieudonne Danwe,
Cameroon

 

Gabriel Catan,

Israel

 

Rebecca Eastgate,

Australia

 

Babajide Onademuren,

Estonia 

 

Maria Aroca,

Spain

 

Eric Kwabia,

Norway

 

Martha Acquah-Swanzy,

Norway

 

Joseph Lune Ngenzi,

Rwanda

 

Renan Maciel,

Brazil

 

Petra Stuetzle,

Germany

 

Adesoji Tade,

Nigeria

 

Shahid Mahmood,

United Kingdom

 

Jeff Walter,

India

 

Nurses

 

Francesco Tarantini,

Italy

 

Bibiana Campello dos Santos,

Brazil

 

Aldrin Nathaniel Llaneta,

Philippines 

 

Mette Maria Skjoeth,

Denmark

The ISfTeH Newsletter is published quarterly for members of the telemedicine community to provide up-to-date information regarding current happenings in the international telemedicine and e-Health industry.

 

Feel free to share this Newsletter with business colleagues by forwarding it to your associates.

If you would like to submit an article or be added to our email distribution list, please email Aliana at [email protected].

Partnerships
European Junior Doctors

European Medical Doctors Association
Geneva Health Forum

International Council of Nurses

International Federation of Medical Students' Associations


Letter from the Executive Director

   

Dear Reader,

 

It is always a pleasant duty to write this first letter of the year. At this time, after a restful period and visits with family and friends, we are all full of resolution and great plans for the year ahead. Let me therefore add to this mood by first wishing you a Healthy, Happy and Prosperous Year in 2014.

 

Like many of you, I have set goals for 2014. One of them has to do with my nomination, in July 2013, to the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Digital Health. The GAC Digital Health convenes 15-20 relevant thought leaders and world experts in the field of Digital Health, from academia, government, business and other fields to capture the best knowledge on key issues and integrate it into global collaboration and decision-making processes. Visit www.weforum.org/content/global-agenda-council-digital-health-2013  for more information.

 

The GAC- Digital Health met during the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Summit in Abu Dhabi on November 18-20, at which time we developed a plan for our work over the next two years. I would like to share with you the essence of those deliberations, captured in this Blog post, which resonates very much with the knowledge sharing goals of the ISfTeH.

 

A digital health revolution in the making 

Revolutions are often associated with rapid upheaval - a fundamental change in political, societal, technological, economic and cultural dimensions. The so-called revolution in digital health, however, has been slow moving for many years, more like an undercurrent. But, lately it has become a tide, with all stakeholders fully invested and ready to catch the wave.

Mobile apps and wearable devices empower individuals to manage their health and wellness. Big data analytics harness individual information for public health, safety and research, while remote monitoring devices, telemedicine, electronic health records and interoperability enable the right care, anywhere. All of this technology and data ultimately result in low-cost wellness and high-value healthcare.

At its heart, the digital health revolution is centred on the health and wellness of a person, but its implications extend to the health and wellness of world societies and economies. As revolutions go, we're not taking full advantage of it. We need to mobilize the resources we have and measure the progress made to realize the full promise of this digital health revolution.

The World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Digital Health is calling for the delivery of a Digital Health Knowledge Exchange toolkit (a "knowledge commons") to support, develop and promote increased health by fully leveraging the capabilities of digital technologies.

Drawing on the collective expertise of an extended network of more than 1,000 policy leaders and decision-makers in healthcare, the Digital Health Knowledge Exchange will provide access to information and communication resources for health that are useful for leaders in other related sectors. It will also be a place to host important updates and discussions on turning points in digital health. And, it will encourage experienced world leaders in the field to share their recommended actions and best practices in digital health.

The growth and role of digital health must be measured and its impact on economies recognized. To do this, the Global Agenda Council on Digital Health calls for the creation of a Digital Health Index, a composite metric about the use of digital methods in healthcare and wellness. The Index will focus on economic, social, political and scientific issues as well as future trends in digital health. It will not only measure the contributions of digital health technologies to health and wellness across all sectors, but will also be important and meaningful to the individual.

Revolutions change societies and the world when their potential becomes a reality. Through the mobilization of resources and better measurement, we can fully realize the promise of the digital health revolution.

 

The link to the blog is http://forumblog.org/2014/01/digital-health-revolution-making/ 

 

Please share this freely with your networks, so that together we can make the Digital health Knowledge Commons a reality.

 

Sincerely,

Professor Yunkap Kwankam

Executive Director of the ISfTeH

ISfTeH Meetings and Conferences
Luxembourg
April 9 - 11, 2014

 For more information on Med-e-Tel 2014, please visit: www.medetel.eu or contact: [email protected] 

Click here to read the report from Med-e-Tel 2013!  

 

The Med-e-Tel 2014 conference will take place on 9-11 April 2014 in Luxembourg. Med-e-Tel is the annual event of the International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth.

The Med-e-Tel event is an important tool to realize the ISfTeH's mission of sharing practical experience and knowledge and forming new partnerships and collaborations among telemedicine/eHealth stakeholders from around the world. Med-e-Tel brings people face-to-face and enhances the exchange of experience/information. Med-e-Tel is attended yearly by about 500 participants from some 40-50 countries worldwide. 

The Med-e-Tel website contains preliminary details about the event and will gradually be updated in the coming months. Presentations from all previous events can also still be found in the Med-e-Tel Knowledge Resource center. The Med-e-Tel 2014 conference topics will include Telehealth for Chronic Disease Management, Telehealth Service Standards, Telenursing, eLearning, Open Source Software in Healthcare, eHealth in Low Resource Settings and Developing Countries, and much more. The Med-e-Tel 2014 exhibition will feature Telemedicine and eHealth products and solutions from leading companies and providers.

 

Registration for the Med-e-Tel conference is available here. 

 

For more information, contact [email protected]  or visit www.medetel.eu.

________________

 

19th ISfTeH International Conference - 5th Carrefour de la Telesante

Paris, France

October 16 - 17, 2014

 

The annual ISfTeH International Conference is held each Fall. 
Visit ISfTeH's Events webpage for more information. 
National Member Spotlight
 
Indonesian e-Health and Telemedicine Society

The Indonesian e-Health and Telemedicine Society (IeHTS), or in Indonesian Language: "Masyarakat Elektronika Kesehatan dan Telemedika Indonesia (MeHTI)", is a national professional society to promote the development of e-Health and Telemedicine in Indonesia, through various national, regional and international activities. The professional society is expected to facilitate its members in improving their competences and quality, as well as to enhance various professional activities that will also be beneficial for the whole community.

Electronic Health (e-Health) and Telemedicine, are two important areas in Biomedical Engineering, which involve the use of information and communication technologies (in a broad sense), to process different types of medical information, for improving community healthcare. Therefore, e-Health and Telemedicine could significantly improve curative and preventive community healthcare, as well as education activities for the care givers and patients. Although IeHTS (MeHTI) is a national professional society, it is expected to cover both national and international activities.

In its first years the society focuses on the following main activities, such as:

  • To promote the society and its memberships to potential national members that include students
  • To develop/create various programs and initiatives expected to be beneficial for the members, community and government
  • To organize different types of professional meetings/seminars/workshops and conferences in e-health and telemedicine fields

As a typical example, a Special Session on e-Health and Telemedicine has been organized during the "2013 3rd International Conference on Instrumentation, Communications, Information Technology, and Biomedical Engineering (ICICI - BME)", Bandung, 7 - 8 November 2013.

Another Special Session on e-Health and Telemedicine is currently being planned to be organized in Yogyakarta, on 8 November 2014, during the "Biomedical Engineering Days - 2014". The event will be organized in collaboration with other similar professional societies.

The professional society was established in December 2012, and its statues have been officially registered by a local Notary, Mrs. Jenni Mariani Raspati SH., on 15 May 2013. The Indonesian e-Health and Telemedicine Society (IeHTS, Masyarakat Elektronika Kesehatan dan Telemedika Indonesia, MeHTI) is a national member of ISfTeH since 2013.

 

For more information, please contact:

Indonesian e-Health and Telemedicine Society (IeHTS)

Masyarakat Elektronika Kesehatan dan Telemedika Indonesia (MeHTI)

c/o Teknik Biomedika ITB, Jalan Ganesha 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia

http://www.iehts-mehti.org

______________________________________


A different National Member will be spotlighted each quarter.  

Board Member Spotlight
Dr. Pirkko Kouri

Dr. Pirkko Kouri was born in Joroinen, Finland on September 7th, 1955. Her first profession is a registered nurse, which degree she obtained in 1977 from Nurse College in Helsinki. She has since furthered her education, becoming a Public Health Nurse in 1986, and getting her Masters degree in Health Education in 1994. She obtained her PhD in Nursing Science from UEF Kuopio (Finland) in 2006. The title of her PhD work is "Development of Maternity Clinic on the Net service - views of pregnant families and professionals."

 

Currently she works as the Principal Lecturer in Healthcare Technology at Savonia University of Applied Sciences (Savonia). She runs, coordinates and develops all master level study programs in collaboration with multidisciplinary teachers' group. She is a project manager for projects which develop use of mobile technology in the field of mother-child health care. Her latest project is called FinMoz2 which takes place both in Mozambique and Finland. Furthermore, she has been Savonia's coordinator in the development work to China. She has taught four times as an exchange teacher at the Fudan University School of Nursing, Shanghai. 

 

Back in 1984, Pirkko became interested in ICT, health care and citizen's role in this context, and since then she has been working in health and ICT-related tasks. In 2011 she was invited as a member of eHealth Strategic Advisory Group at the International Council of Nurses (ICN). She is also a member of IMIA-NI education working group since 2007. The group is discussing the nursing informatics competences related to nurse education and practice. Nationally she is a board member and secretary in Finnish Society for Telemedicine and eHealth Association (STeHS).

 

Dr. Kouri has also made numerous presentations on telemedicine/eHealth related issues such as education and training, developing ICT and health care, and citizen involvement. She has written both scientific and practice-base articles, and been a co-author in many books.

 

She does volunteer work, and she is the chair of regional cancer association, which has 20 local units and altogether 4500 members.

 

Contact:

Mrs. Pirkko Kouri

[email protected]

_______________________________________


A different Board Member will be spotlighted each quarter.   

Corporate Member Spotlight

Are you or someone you know part of a commercial organization such as a manufacturer, distributor and/or service provider in the field of telemedicine/eHealth? You could be a Corporate Member of the ISfTeH!

To learn more about how to join and the benefits of being a Corporate Member - including a feature article in the ISfTeH quarterly Newsletter sent to over 20,000 recipients -
click here to apply!
ISfTeH Board Members

Changes in the Board

 

Prof. Yogesan Kanagasingam and Dr. Oleg Orlov are both fascinating personalities and have great experience in eHealth and Telemedicine. Both have held various leading positions and functions in several institutions and have brought their extensive knowhow and networks to the ISfTeH. As a small example of their outstanding commitment, Prof. Kanagasingam led the organization of the 15th ISfTeH International Conference held in Perth in 2010 and Dr. Orlov led the organization of the 14th ISfTeH International Conference held in Moscow in 2009.

Dr. Oleg Orlov
Prof. Yogesan Kanagasingam

In the name of the ISfTeH I thank Prof. Kanagasingam and Dr. Orlov sincerely for their efforts, and wish them all the best in their private and professional futures. At the same time, it is my pleasure to welcome Dr. Pirkko Kouri from the Finnish Society of Telemedicine and eHealth (FSfTeH), and Prof. Anthony Maeder from the Australasian Telehealth Society (ATHS) to the ISfTeH Board.

 

Dr. Andy Fischer

President ISfTeH

ISfTeH Member News 

 

National Member News 

FINNISH SOCIETY OF TELEMEDICINE AND EHEALTH (FSTeH)

 

FSTeH: The 19th Finnish National Conference on Telemedicine and eHealth "Towards effective eHealth" will be organized in Tallinn, Estonia, 23rd -24th April 2014

 

Conference will cover themes from updating the knowledge about international eHealth trends and the latest advancements in the new health care technologies.

The program is aimed at health care professionals and service providers. Conference offers unique meeting place and new information to physicians, nursing staff as well as to responsible persons for management, planning and education. Main sessions will be in English.

 

Our themes:

  • Landscape of Complex eHealth
    Comparative Studies from Finland and Estonia
  • eHealth Innovations
    From 3D Printing to Wearable Technology
  • Best Practices in eHealth
    Successful Implementations, Automation and eHealth from the Web
  • Frontiers of Knowledge
    Health Information 2020, Games for Health

Conference will include site visits to top health care units and companies in the region. The most significant companies in the field will present the latest solutions in a traditional exhibition. Scientific poster session provides in a nutshell the latest research results including latest development projects.

 

Call for Abstracts is open until 3rd March 2014. Conference program and registration will open during January 2014 at  www.telemedicine.fi. 

 

Conference is organized in co-operation with Tallinn University of Technology.

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New Telemedicine Initiative in Ukraine - "Telemedicine Anti-Tuberculosis Network"

 

You can find a report about the new Telemedicine Anti-Tuberculosis Network in Ukraine on the ISfTeH website.

 

For additional information, please contact:

Prof. Anton Vladzymyrskyy, MD, PhD [email protected]

President of the Association for Ukrainian Telemedicine and eHealth Development, National member representing Ukraine in the ISfTeH

 

Association for Ukrainian Telemedicine and eHealth Development

 

The AUTeHD has prepared a Good Practice model in Telemedicine for MDR-Tuberculosis Care. Please read more about this here. 

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

   

 

The Telemedicine Society of India has provided the following article of interest. Click on the link below to read the complete article:

"Rise of internet use and Telehealth in India"
Recently published article by Prof. K. Ganapathy


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Join our Working Group of Japanese Perinatal Telemedicine!

Japanese Telemedicine &
Telecare Association 

 

In Japan, we have been promoting Regional Medical Liaison, Telemedicine, and PHR by working on actual cases. Each project is carried out based on the Perinatal Electronic Medical Record developed by Professor Hara of Kagawa University. Our working group consists of five main members: Dr. Ogasawara (Oohunato Hospital), Dr. Kido (Japanese Red Cross Medical Center), Dr. Odagiri (Naze-Tokushukai Hospital), Mr. Shimmi (Sapporo Medical University) and Ms. Ogata (MITLA Co.).

The main role of our Perinatal EMR is to manage data of the mother and the baby starting from pregnancy. A standard for perinatal data such as HL7 does not exist yet, but we are aiming at it. Our goal is to build a network where not only medical institutions, but also municipalities, individuals, and businesses can utilize the data to protect the pregnant women and families. The above mentioned working group was established with a goal to solve problems each region is facing and to discuss the best method to introduce a perinatal database to those regions. We are now seeking colleagues who would be interested in collaborating with us.

To read more about our works, click here. 

Working Groups
 

WoW

 

"Gender Ratio in Engineering Disciplines: How to Attract More Females?"

L. Lhotska,  [email protected] 

Czech Society for Biomedical Engineering and Medical Informatics  

Czech Technical University in Prague, Department of Cybernetics

In last decades the effort to increase the number of women applying for studies at technical universities, and consequently for a job in the field of technology, can be seen in European countries. However, the advance in the decreasing of gender disbalance is very weak and the amount of female students in technical fields is still quite small. Reasons for this are for sure historical patterns and society prejudices that maintain and encourage gender discrimination. We have analyzed the situation in the Czech Republic and found out that there are differences in ratio of females in individual engineering disciplines. To read more, click here.   

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The following article has been transmitted by the Working Group on Women and eHealth (WoW), taken from www.MDLinx.com:

 

"Making a case for telehealth: measuring the carbon cost of health-related travel"
Rural and Remote Health, 12/06/2013 - Clinical Article

Ellis I, et al. - Telehealth services are promoted to reduce the cost of travel for people living in rural areas. The previous Australian Government, through the national Digital Economy Strategy, invested heavily in telehealth service development, at the same time introducing a carbon pricing mechanism. In planning a range of new telehealth services to a rural community the authors sought to quantify the travel conducted by people from one rural area in Australia to access health care, and to calculate the associated carbon emissions. Dependence on fossil fuels for transport in a carbon economy has a significant impact on total healthcare carbon emissions. Alternative models of care, such as telehealth, need be developed for an environmentally sustainable healthcare system for rural and remote areas. To read the complete article on MDLinx website, click here.

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eHispanic

  

Invitation to Students of the Spanish Speaking Community: Med-e-Tel 2014 (9-11 April, 2014 - Luxembourg)

__________________________ 

ePortuguese  


Invitation to Students of the Portuguese Speaking Community:
Med-e-Tel 2014 (9-11 April, 2014 - Luxembourg)

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Education

 

"MastersDegreeOnline.org" is a complete and ultimate source for all available master's programs. It has an extensive list of colleges and degrees before they finally decide on what program to take. The programs are accredited by respected bodies like the American Psychological Association, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, and the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission. The resource also has links to international accreditation bodies if they want to apply their skills in the global market and workforce. A valuable higher education experience is within grasp once the program that matches their aspirations and career.

Announcements

ISfTeH Discussion Forum

 

A discussion forum is open on the ISfTeH website, and is accessible to all duly registered members. Login with your username and password and you will see the "Discussion Forum" appearing on the top menu toolbar. In the Discussion Forum you will find the list of ongoing discussions or messages.

 

We encourage all members to use regularly this communication tool and to participate as such in dissemination of available experiences and information. 

 

Should you have any additional questions, please submit via: [email protected]