Advancements in the field of telecommunications
technologies enable the development of advanced applications
that support primary and specialistic care. Information and
Communication Technologies (ICT) offer peculiar and challenging
opportunities when applied to the domain of medicine. On one
hand, technologies - due to their very nature - change often.
When the most recent techniques and methodologies are to be
employed, one should consider not only products developed
and supported commercially. The latest achievements in spoken
dialogue systems or speech recognition, for example, are only
available from selected high-end research efforts in specialized
groups.
The deployment of advanced technologies
in the clinical setting requires a comprehensive range of
skills. First of all, the knowledge of new tools
will generate a comprehension of their applicability. As opportunities
for the development and applicability of advanced systems
are spotted, ideation leads to the decision of research
objectives and the design of systems which will achieve them.
The building of prototypes often requires
integration of diverse components; modularity and
maintenability are always kept under focus. So is validability
of results: the research resources in an academic environment
are to be targeted towards the most profitful areas and methods,
and such can be identified only if continuous inspection and
evaluation of running systems is built into their very scope.
Needless to say, the picture would not be
complete with the partnerships of technology providers,
on one side - and clinical professionels - on the other.
MyHeart, Homey
and M2DM
are EU-funded telemedicine projects recently carried out
in the Laboratory for Medical Informatics of Pavia. Please
find further information in the projects' pages, search our
publication
repository or by contacting the Responsible of each area.
