TELEMEDICINE By Prof. A MONTEIRO & Dr. D G CORRÊA,
The Brazilian Pediatric Radiology Telemedicine Program: an education tool connecting
people around the world Although still not necessarily superior to traditional teaching methods, web- based educational programs are increasingly being used in many medical fields. This article describes a telemedicine-based educational program developed in Brasil for pediatric radiology.
The principal activities of medical professionals, includ- ing radiologists, have been described as giving direct help to patients, education and research [1]. The internet has become a particularly important factor in the field of education; in addition many people use the internet to improve service quality, and for research as well as for education [2]. Although not superior to traditional teach- ing methods, web-based educational programs are equal to them in increasing the knowledge base of medical practitioners and clinicians in the field [3]. Pediatric radiology is a subspecialty practiced by relatively
few doctors around the world the majority of whom are in academic institutions in metropolitan areas in developed countries [4]. Of particular concern in the field of pediatric radiology is of course the issue of radiation exposure in children [5] but in addition there are diseases specific to pediatrics, which mean that special training is necessary. To met these challenges, new telemedicine programs have
been developed for education, for clinicians to keep up to date, for collaborative research and for providing second opinions. Such programs have been shown to be very benefi- cial, especially in a subspecialty that is full of peculiarities and that is practiced by relatively few doctors, This is particularly true in a country of continental dimensions, like Brazil.
THE BRAZILIAN PEDIATRIC RADIOLOGY TELEMEDICINE PROGRAM (RADPED)
The Brazilian Federal Government has created two nation-wide telehealth programs, with the aim of creating a network of health care to connect university hospitals and centers of excellence with remote health units for
The Authors: Alexandra Monteiro is Associate Professor of Radiology of Medical School and Coordinator at Telehealth Center of State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. email:
monteiroamv@gmail.com
Diogo Goulart Corrêa is a postgraduate student in Radiology at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. email:
diogogoulartcorrea@yahoo.com.br
48 DI EUROPE FigUre 1. Map showing the international coverage of RADPED Program. APRIL/MAY 2012
tele-education and teleconsulting purposes. One program is the Telemedicine University Network [6], created by the Science and Technology Ministry. This is a health- oriented Internet network connecting public university hospitals, and with the possibility of international con- nections. The other program is the Brazilian Telehealth Network Program [7], created by the Health Ministry, which implements e-health networks and connects health professionals from remote municipalities with university hospitals. In this Brazilian network, the pediatric radiol- ogy group has the highest coverage in teleradiology.
METHODOLOGY
At the heart of the system is a routine monthly teleconfer- ence session, at noon Brazilian time on the first Monday of the month. The session includes interactive anatomi- cal–clinical–radiological discussions, presentations on hot topics and virtual thematic symposia. The participants include GPs, pediatricians, general and pediatric radiolo- gists and graduate and postgraduate medical students[8]. The teleconferences use simultaneous videoconference and web conference technologies. The videoconferenc- ing system is based on a Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) and a TANDBERG gatekeeper to connect the University Hospitals to a backbone funded by the Brazilian Govern- ment. The MCU is responsible for managing multipoint conferences, and at the endpoints, a TANDBERG 6000
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