Development of a telemedicine model for emerging countries: a case study on pediatric oncology in Brazil.
This article discusses a telemedicine model for emerging countries, through the description of ONCONET, a telemedicine initiative applied to pediatric oncology in Brazil. The ONCONET core technology is a Web-based system that offers health information and other services specialized in childhood cancer such as electronic medical records and cooperative protocols for complex treatments. All Web-based services are supported by the use of high performance computing infrastructure based on clusters of commodity computers. The system was fully implemented on an open-source and free-software approach. Aspects of modeling, implementation and integration are covered. A model, both technologically and economically viable, was created through the research and development of in-house solutions adapted to the emerging countries reality and with focus on scalability both in the total number of patients and in the national infrastructure.
Hira
A Y
AY
Laboratório de Sistemas Integráveis of Escola Politécnica at University of São Paulo, Brazil. ayhira@lsi.usp.br
Nebel de Mello
A
A
Faria
R A
RA
Odone Filho
V
V
Lopes
R D
RD
Zuffo
M K
MK
D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D016494:Computer Security; D003201:Computers; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D012984:Software; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D014584:User-Computer Interface