Dear Reader,

Welcome to this 11th edition of the Newsletter. This issue coincides with our annual fixed event, Med-e-Tel. Of the more than twenty thousand readers of this Newsletter fewer than one thousand will have the opportunity to attend this event. So, let me support your vicarious engagement with Med-e-Tel, by sharing with you my welcome message to the participants.

Begin Med-e-Tel message

Dear Participant,  

Welcome to this 12th edition of Med-e-Tel. I have had the privilege of attending every Med-e-Tel since its inception in 2002, and I never cease to be amazed at how much I get out of my participation each year, in terms of the three main promises that the event offers - education, networking and business. I am greatly encouraged that each year we get closer to the dream of "weaving eHealth into the fabric of the health system" in countries around the globe. For this and other reasons, Med-e-Tel remains, to my mind, a mainstay of our ISfTeH event calendar.

Here is some of what we have in store for you this time. The opening ceremony will have our traditional partners: the Government of Luxembourg, represented this year by the Minister of Social Security as well as a senior official of the Ministry of Health. Our collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), where the ISfTeH is an NGO in official relations, continues to grow. WHO will be represented at Med-e-Tel by the Coordinator of the Organization's ePORTUGUESe Program.

This year, Med-e-Tel unveils a new collaboration, with the Luxembourg Government's "Agence eSant�" (National eHealth Agency), who have organized two special round table sessions, and put together a Luxembourg pavilion in the Exhibition area to welcome you. In the same vein, a formal cooperation agreement in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed to herald the ISfTeH's joint work with the International Council of Nurses (ICN), and also with the Diplomatic Council (DC).

Continuing the innovation from last year, a special session on women titled " Women, eHealth and Telemedicine at All Ages of Life: From Birth to Old Age" is presented by the Women Observatory for eHealth (WeObservatory) and the ISfTeH Working Group on Women (WoW). The session is a collaboration with "Connecting Nurses" and "Connecting Midwives", with support from Sanofi.

Two EU consortia (RECAP and eMedic) will be actively engaged in the conference program, focusing on intelligent decision support systems for chronic disease management. They will also discuss telemedicine (teleconsultation/telemonitoring) initiatives in Baltic Sea region. The European Junior Doctors are also back in force with their special session.

I have often called evidence on eHealth, or the business case for eHealth, the Higgs Boson[1] of our area of endeavor. We know it is out there - all the theories and some of the practice indicate that it exists. We just cannot seem to definitively identify it. Well, the session on eHealth Economics, initiated last year, will continue this year and just might bring us a little closer to that body of evidence. And if you feel that your knowledge and skills need a little honing, there will be a session on Education/Training/Skills Development. A good number of these sessions are getting excellent responses in terms of preregistration. So, mark your Med-e-Tel agenda and come early to ensure you get a seat.

It is heartwarming to know that there will be representations from at least ten ISfTeH national member associations. And many other categories of ISfTeH members will be there as well. In total we expect to have some 400-600 participants from 50-60 countries again this year in Luxembourg.

In a short message like this, it is impossible to cover all the numerous knowledge-sharing sessions and networking opportunities, which the event will offer. So, it is understood that the few I have highlighted above are a microcosm of the thematic breadth of what Med-e-Tel will cover this year.

All in all, a very full calendar is planned for you. So, participate actively and share freely. I can think of nothing more appropriate than to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, "Knowledge is like a candle. Even as it lights a new candle, the strength of the original flame is not diminished." But together the two will shine brighter. Let us all help trace a brighter future for Telemedicine and eHealth in the service of people around the globe.  

End Med-e-Tel message

Finally, do remember that you can still benefit from the information and knowledge from not only this edition of Med-eTel, but also all previous editions, through the Knowledge Resources page of the website.  

See you at the 19th Annual Conference of the ISfTeH, in Paris on October 16-17, organized by CATEL, our national member Association from France.

Prof. S. Yunkap Kwankam

Executive Director

European Junior Doctors

• develop the importance of the ISfTeH WG and the participation of JDs in the Med-e-Tel annual congress.
• contributing in the development of a WHO project

Within the frame of our cooperation with the ISfTeH, we would like to kindly ask you to send the following link to your contacts among Medical Students and Junior Doctors, with the request of filling this 5 minutes survey. Please go to : 

www.jrdr.org and http://tinyurl.com/nl9wqzr  

The project will be presented at Med-e-tel 2014 EJD session (11th of April, 11.00-13.00 am). The final results will be published in cooperation with WHO and EJD.

For more information, to express your interest in joining the EJD co-chaired session, or to schedule an appointment at Med-e-Tel with representatives of this group, contact Dr. Marco Capizzi, ISfTeH JD WG coordinator at [email protected].  

 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!  

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

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]