Project No.: 5003-045359 01.11.96 - 31.10.99

Project leader: Dr. Stephanie Teufel, Institut für Informatik, University of Zurich
e-mail: teufel@ifi.unizh.ch

Name of project: MOBIMED: Privacy and efficiency of mobile medical systems

Partners:
Hans-Rudolf Fischer, Triangle Micro Research AG, Liestal
Hans-Rudolf Schulz, Plattner Schulz Partner AG, Basel

Funding: Sfr 722,836.-

Summary:
In hospitals, the tasks surrounding patient care are often complicated unnecessarily. Patient data are repeatedly recorded and IT systems are not integrated across departments, with the result that electronically processed data have to be hand-carried between departments. The Mobimed project at the Basel University Hospital seeks to root out these inefficiencies by improving interdepartmental collaboration using a mobile HBU (Hospital Bed Unit). The HBU is a hospital bed equipped with a multimedia terminal that offers the same functionality wherever the terminal is plugged in, regardless of place and department.

The continuation project returns to the issue of collaboration among hospitals. In the health sector, the emphasis is increasingly on establishing centers of excellence which can be consulted from the outside - even, in some cases, for purposes of analysis during operations. The necessary communications for this kind of access have to be secure and fast, even when they involve insecure networks like the Internet. This aspect is being studied by Zurich University Hospital, which has returned as a project partner, and if the ACTS EXODUS project (involving Mobimed) is reactivated the Athens hospital will also take part.

This wider approach leads to the use of new methods. A monitoring study will look at the effects of Mobimed for the purposes of technology assessment with respect to social and economic aspects, patients’ and nursing-staff needs and day-to-day job satisfaction. Inter-hospital collaboration will be examined. A comprehensive monitoring study involving risk assessment, an analysis of the effects on care and management as well as costs and benefits will only be possible on a qualitative basis.

Cooperation:
The lead applicant (Dr. Stephanie Teufel, institute of information technology, University of Zurich) is working on this project in collaboration with Hans-Rudolf Fischer of Triangle Micro Research AG, Liestal. Additional partners are Plattner Schulz Partner AG, Basel. Mobimed is part of the European EXODUS project.