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ICT can help in delivering health services
30.01.2008
Pervasive Health 2008 Conference in Tampere
Health care systems in OECD countries face tremendous pressure due to ageing societies, lifestyle related chronic illnesses and increasing health care costs. New means for answering to these pressures are sought from ICT and personal health management of individuals. New technologies such as personal health systems, home-based monitoring tools, and wearable and mobile technologies are reforming the delivery of health care and empowering individuals to take a more active role in managing their health. The latest developments and challenges in this sector are discussed at Pervasive Health 2008 Conference held in Tampere January 30 till February 1.
ICT is a major enabler in the delivery of health services. "We can dream of a
pervasive health service environment where patient data can be collected
anytime and anywhere and where that data and relevant medical knowledge is
available when needed in the appropriate context. In realizing this dream we
are confronted by several R&D challenges. Among the needs that must be met is
a semantically interoperable health information infrastructure for storage and
communication of patient records, personal health records and in the future
also personal genomic profiles. Another need relates to personal devices and
systems to collect health and patient data and to access and use electronic
health services." says Professor Niilo Saranummi from VTT Technical Research
Centre of Finland.
Professor Saranummi is the Chairman of the
Pervasive Health, 2nd International Conference on Pervasive Computing
Technologies for Healthcare 2008. The conference will focus on addressing the
challenges of making health services truly pervasive using ICT both as an
enabler and as an agent for changing the way health services and organized and
delivered. The conference includes three workshops and an industry session to
discuss how research can be translated into business.
"In
addition to building the infrastructure, the services and the devices, we also
need to figure out how the pervasive health environment will be constructed.
The current illness focused health services need to be re-engineered into the
pervasive "from cradle to grave" wellness and health services.", Saranummi
outlines the targets of the event.
Pervasive Health Conference Tampere, Finland, Lapinniemi Spa, January 30 - February 1, 2008