| | Who Runs This Service |
| This service is a product of the PatMan project |
| | Users involved |
| The users of the framework proposed by this project will be, in general, health care operators, involving both administrative and medical professionals in different phases. The patient workflow management system will allow the simulation of different resource allocation options, while the implemented guidelines/protocols will facilitate medical operators in carrying on an evidence-based clinical practice. |
| | Technologies and/or approach used |
| Patient management is a distributed activity, thus Internet and Intranet solutions will be proposed in order to facilitate the system use by different users and from different locations. The user interface will be completely developed using HTML and Java. WEB servers towards Database management systems will be used. Patient workflow will be implemented using the Petri Net formalism, while the guideline/protocol representation will exploit a frame-based language. |
| | Expected benefits for the citizens |
| It has been shown that poor attention to organisational issues is a major cause of delays and inaccuracy in the patient management. The PatMan expected benefits for the citizens are related both to the improvement of this aspect and to a cure based on validated clinical guidelines/protocols. In addition, the distributed character of the resulting service will allow citizens from different site to be cured according to the up to date guidelines, tailored to the site specific health care organisation. |
| | Expected benefits for the users of the application |
| Hospital managers and ward chiefs will be able to identify bottlenecks in their actual structures, by simulating current processes through the dynamic model, based on the Petri net representation, of the patient workflow. They will also be provided by a tool to correct them. Physicians will be facilitated in delivering a guideline based clinical care, that is a guarantee of quality care. |
| | Expected benefits for the European Industries |
| Since workflow management systems actually represent a business product for several companies, the technology proposed in this project could enlarge the market, which is by now restricted to industry, to health care organisations. |
| | Contribution to EU-policies |
| One of the major reasons hampering the guideline diffusion and use in clinical practice is their difficult impact on specific health care environments (hospitals, outpatient dept, etc). On the other hand, their implementation is wished by most health care institutions (Ministries, Agencies, etc). PatMan aims at bridging this gap. |