e-Health Report for 2007
There have been some developments in the National Hospital of Paediatrics (Hanoi) (“NHP”) e-health project in 2007. This Học Mãi Foundation project continues to be funded by the generous support of Australian Chamber of Commerce Vietnam (AusCham)
During this year we were fortunate enough to be introduced via our iPATH colleagues in Switzerland to Dao Van Tuyet and his team from the HCMC Institute of Information Technology at the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology (www.ioit-hcm.ac.vn).
Mr. Tuyet and his team have applied for and received support from the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology to undertake a research project with the title "Health Information System supporting distance diagnosis and treatment" (abbreviated to "HIS & Telemed"). Mr. Tuyet has set up an e-health Group in his department to follow this research. Mr. Tuyet and his team have been very enthusiastic in assisting in setting up and monitoring the iPATH linkage as part of this study into e-health, that they are undertaking. The involvement of Mr. Tuyet and his team has presented some exciting opportunities for the e-health linkage.
On the ground at NHP, an initial cohort of six doctors was selected to take part in the case-referrals via the e-health linkage. These doctors came from a diverse range of specialty areas, ranging from paediatric neurology and surgical ICU, through to paediatric radiology and infectious diseases.
The following hardware was purchased due to the generous support of AusCham for the initial phase of the NHP e-health project:
1. 2 x HP Compaq dx 7300 Business PC
2. 1 x HP LaserJet 3055 AIO Printer
In late 2007, University of Sydney medical student Fred Hersch was in Hanoi as a recipient of a Học Mãi Foundation Option Term Scholarship. Fred has formal training in information technology, and extensive experience in the e-health arena and was able to organize and participate in some very useful training as part of the NHP e-health project during his time in Hanoi.
Dr Amy Gray at Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne and Dr Ray Chaseling at Children’s Hospital Westmead have been assisting in co-coordinating the involvement of these hospitals and their doctors in the NHP e-health project.
The project in 2008 will likely see the following developments:
- Gathering and analysis of data pertaining to usage of the e-health linkage;
- Expansion of the number of hospitals involved in the e-health linkage/case-referrals;
- Introduction of intra-national (within Vietnam) electronic case-referrals; and
- Expansion of number of NHP doctors involved in electronic case-referrals
James Postle
e-Health
Project Coordinator