Projects

Telemedicine Program in the Balkans

The International Virtual e-Hospital (IVEH), supported by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is implementing Balkan Telemedicine Program.  This program is currently being implemented through structured intensive training and educational curriculums and, exchange programs for physicians, nurses, and technical professionals from Kosova, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania. The infrastructure for telemedicine and the virtual medical educational network in Kosova will be expanded from the existing telemedicine center in Prishtina to six regional telemedicine centers in regional hospitals.

This program is creating a powerful international medical education network in the Balkans for further collaboration and development. The medical and technical leadership created during these two years will provide a solid foundation for new changes in healthcare in the Balkans. This multi-institutional, multi-state, and multi-country program represents a comprehensive educational undertaking involving telemedicine and telehealth, and trauma, emergency management, and surgical critical care. By creating new opportunities for partnerships between medical institutions from the region with renowned institutions in the USA, this program will become a true ambassador of medical advances, cultural diversity, and advances in technology.  In addition, it will help prevent a “brain drain of experts and intellectuals” from these countries and improve the integration of the IVEH Network into interregional and international activities using technological advances and virtual communications. This project is managed by an international virtual team and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2008. Participants are undergoing intensive training programs at the Arizona Telemedicine Program, the University Medical Center in Tucson and the Alaska Federal Health Care Access Network (AFHCAN) in Anchorage, Alaska.

Telemedicine Program in Kosova
 

In collaboration with the authorities of the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders of health care in Kosova, IVEH has successfully introduced and implemented the first phase of the three-phased “Telemedicine Program of Kosova” (TPK).  The first Phase of TPK, funded with $1.5 million from the European Agency for Reconstruction, established the Telemedicine Center of Kosova (TCK) which was inaugurated December 10, 2002.  Since then, comprehensive educational programs for professionals in Kosova, including those in medical, nursing, dentistry and pharmacy, have been successfully accomplished. During the period of January 2003 to March 2005, more than 54,000 health care providers have participated in these educational programs. TCK has collaborated with more than twenty universities, institutions, and medical publishing companies such as Landes Bioscience Publishing, to help enrich its activities and knowledge.

Now, the medical professionals in Kosova are virtually participating in seminars, lectures, medical consultations and workshops using a highly sophisticated telemedicine network. The TPK has received multiple national and international awards for its mission and efforts in advancing and rebuilding the medical system in Kosova, and for serving as the inspiration for other developing countries.  The Telemedicine Program of Kosova has been presented around the world and featured in the book “Establishing Telemedicine in Developing Countries: from Inception to Implementation” and most recently the results of the first phase of the program have been published in a peer review journal (Publication).

Telemedicine in Extreme Conditions:  Amazon Virtual Medical Team

International Virtual e-Hospital Foundation (IveHF) teamed up with the Arizona Telemedicine Program of  the University of Arizona and the University of Tennessee recently to provide telemedicine support in the Amazon region for the Amazon Swim Expedition led by a legendary marathon swimmer from Slovenia, Mr. Martin Strel.  They also introduced telemedicine along the Amazon jungles of Peru and Brazil (read more). The Amazon Swim Expedition (ASE) led by Strel,  a Guinness world record holder in ultra marathon, was successfully completed on April 8, 2007, in Belem, northern Brazil at the mouth of Atlantic ocean.   Strel had begun the swim at the highland of the Andes in Atalaya, Peru, a town of eight thousand inhabitants.  He completed the swim in sixty-six days.  He dedicated his latest swim to promoting telemedicine in remote areas of the Amazon jungle, raising the awareness for neurodegenerative diseases, and protecting rain forest.  Providing telemedicine support during the expedition was onlylogical, as the expedition would have to pass through some of the most remote, dangerous, unknown, and yet beautiful territories. However, telemedicine has never been reported to have supported such expedition.  To support the Amazon Swim Expedition remotely though the telemedicine and telepresence, we established a volunteer group of physicians and  experts in telemedicine from many countries  around the world and created the Amazon Virtual Medical Team.  The AVMT consisted of trauma and general surgeons, infectious and tropical disease specialists, a dermatologist, vascular surgeon, ophthalmologist, exercise physiologist, psychiatrists, a pathologist and also established satellite connectivity 24/7 for the duration of the expedition.. The AVMT was led by the director (RL) and by the team physician (MDLS) on board the boat for the duration of the mission.  The medical team was contacted through e-mail (mainly), telephone, live video consultation using Skype, and store and forward techniques to upload prerecorded consultations via a low bandwidth satellite link.

The objectives of the AVMT and the telemedicine portion of the expedition was to ensure safety of Martin Strel and his team, including executive team, film makers, journalist and others, as well as the crew members of boat (all together 25-30 people) at any given time  and to promote telemedicine along the Amazon jungle and throughout indigenous tribal villages through which the expedition was passing using  physician presence the board of the boat and ASE and  AVMT expertise, remotely providing  care and guidance through very sophisticated and technology aboard the boat, 24/7.  

 The ASE traveled though some of the most dangerous areas deep inside the jungle, where most villages lack basic elements of modernization such as electricity and telephone line.  At times, the ASE team was exposed to dangerous conditions. At no point in time where the members of ASE in seriously life-threatening situations, although the team physician did suffer ironically from an anaphylactic shock.   Prophylactic measures and weekly (sometimes more frequent) routine examinations of the members was proven to be the key in avoiding serious dehydration from diarrhea and other infectious tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue or yellow fever.  Although the expedition was on a tight schedule and there were no time to visit for long periods of times local hospital and villages, we used the ASE as very high profile media event to introduce and promote telemedicine and e-health in hope to established telemedicine programs in remote areas along the system of Amazon River to twelve communities from Atalaya, Peru to Belém, Brazil, a distance of 5268 km. We introduced the telemedicine during press conferences and other media formats that followed the ASE as well to other contacts that we created during the journey.  We introduced telemedicine by demonstrating the equipment aboard the boat, reporting on the web site, multimedia presentation during our visits to the regional and local hospitals, and visits with dignitaries and leadership of the region. Both hospital and political leadership ,including presidents of the regions and governors, embraced the telemedicine concept and promised full political and moral support.