Momentum telemedicine service descriptions

ECOPIH (ES)

Objectives, expected outcomes, main beneficiaries

The full title of the service is: “ECOPIH – Eina de comunicació entre Primaria i Hospital” (translation:  “Communication tool between primary and acute care”). ECOPIH is a term created and registered with the Creative Commons.

The overall aim and expectations of the service is to create a virtual community inside the web 2.0 platform e-Catalonia for professionals in both the primary and secondary/tertiary sectors. The objective of this consultancy environment is to offer a tool that makes online communication faster among primary care and hospitals, and tertiary care, and vice versa. It reduces waiting lists and contributes to mutual learning.

The service is available among five reference centres (hospitals) and nine primary care centres. There are subgroups for each clinical specialty that participates in the platform. The platform currently has 28 specialty consultancy groups (examples include tobacco addiction, pharmacology, rehabilitation, vaccinations, allergiology, and endocrinology).

The service’s current use is limited to professionals in the primary care area of Sant Adrià – Badalona and the Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol. Access will be extended to further or larger territories linking reference hospitals with all primary care centres of its reference area in the territory.

The main beneficiaries are healthcare professionals and patients.

Targeted population, number of patients

The target population is categorised as citizens in general and patients undergoing specific treatment. More specifically, they include the patients of professionals and general practitioners working daily in primary care and interacting with specialists at their reference hospital.

Between 100 and 1,000 people receive the service each month. The estimated size of the targeted population nationally exceeds one million.

Type of telemedicine service

The service is categorised as an interpretation service. The relationship between key actors in the service is primary care to secondary care.

Set-up that was being replaced

The service makes not only the set of professionals to whom a General Practitioner may make referrals accessible but also any available specialist in the country.

Outcomes and results expected after introduction

This service allows any professional in the region to access or view all consultations available, and participate in discussions. It is an “auto learning” instrument that results from the individual’s own consultations and the contributions made by other colleagues. In the discussions, materials include photos (for example, of skin lesions and wounds), or scanned documents, radiographies, protocols of service delivery, or innovative articles. All materials contribute to problem solving. It results, of course, in time-savings, reduced costs (the avoidance of conventional mail) and clinical effectiveness.

Detailed description

This is an online tool that allows professionals in primary and secondary/tertiary sectors to build a relationship based on an online tool that works as a virtual community inside the e-Catalunya web 2.0 platform. The parties involved include any general practitioner that asks for a diagnostic assessment from a secondary care professional.