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Meet Cybermedicine Professionals from around the World

CYBERMEDICINE

APPLICATIONS

Baby CareLink (www.cstlink.com)

Using Internet technologies, Baby CareLink supports the care of low birth weight infants by bringing together families, clinicians and all parties involved in the care process. Developed at Boston’s Center for Clinical Computing, Baby CareLink utilizes a secure platform and incorporates clinical practice guidelines, videoconferencing and knowledge bases in multiple media formats. A recently completed two year clinical trial showed reduced length of stay and increased satisfaction with the system of care.

CareWeb-CareGroup Healthcare System (www.home.caregroup.org)

CareWeb offers a single, powerful web-based destination for both providers and consumers of health information. The provider portal provides thirty subject headings and three hundred knowledge bases. Included is software that can be used by health care employees to connect to mainframe applications, conduct literature searches, and facilitate managed care referrals and other business processes. Physicians can receive feedback on their performance, as well as customized medical data and news. In process is a portal called the communicator that will enable consumers to make appointments, renew prescriptions, and receive individualized health information.

Every Block A Village Online (EBV) (www.ebvonline.org)

Every Block A Village Online uses in-home technology to bridge the digital divide in a low-income neighborhood on Chicago's Westside. Funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and West Suburban Hospital, EBV Online provides Internet access to block leaders and public facilities throughout a 57-block area. The Home Page supplies information on community health care resources and access to medical providers via email. Use of this in-home technology has resulted to increased communication among neighbors and greater collaboration on community safety and improvement projects.

Global Reproductive Health Forum (www.hsph.harvard.edu/grhf)

The Global Reproductive Health Forum (GRHF)is an interactive website and email network whose mission is to make current and accurate reproductive health information available to the global community from a wide variety of perspectives. The website provides excellent reproductive health information, with a special focus on human rights, political, and gender concerns. Through its outreach efforts, the GRHF also helps reproductive health and rights workers, researchers, advocates, and NGOs in developing countries learn to employ and become active participants in this medium.

Healthfinder (www.healthfinder.gov)

healthfinder® is a free gateway to reliable consumer health and human services information developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  It features selected online publications, clearinghouses, databases, web sites, and support and self-help groups, as well as the government agencies and nonprofit organizations that produce reliable information for the public. Launched in April 1997, healthfinder® now provides information on how to select quality health care, including health plans, providers and long-term care, and how to identify sound health information on the Internet.

HealthLink (www.healthlink.org.za)

HealthLink, a program of the NGO Health Systems Trust (HST), uses the Internet to promote equitable and comprehensive health care in South Africa. HealthLink furnishes information and support to all levels of the health system. It disseminates health and health systems information through its website, supports the websites of other health NGOs and research institutions, provides basic communication to remote areas through an off-line email network, trains workers to use the email system, and runs email discussion groups on a variety of pressing health issues confronting the country.

La Plaza Telecommunity (www.laplaza.org)

La Plaza Telecommunity, a nonprofit community network in Taos, New Mexico, is improving communication and information sharing in northern New Mexico. La Plaza offers tricultural residents access to information technology resources, education in computer and Internet technology, and a virtual library of regional information and resources. La Plaza has created several health applications, including the Diabetes Wellness Connection and an online compendium of traditional and alternative health resources. In the works is a culturally appropriate web-based nutrition module, funded by the National Cancer Institute.

PaperChase (www.paperchase.com)

PaperChase is a search program enabling the user to search the MEDLINE, Aidsline, HealthSTAR, and OLDMEDLINE databases simultaneously. PaperChase combines these databases into one file, eliminating duplicates. It guides the user to the special terms used by the National Library of Medicine to classify the medical literature, and it presents references in the best medical journals first.

QuitNet (www.quitnet.org)

QuitNet combines proven scientific methods with web-based tools to deliver round-the clock personalized support to smokers whenever they need it. Users are classified by stage of change and tracked over time. Custom cessation strategies are recommended; Quit Tips. Anniversary messages, a library of information and daily tobacco news are some of the services available to subscribers. QuitNet is partnered with the American Cancer Society’s Massachusetts Smokers’ Quitline.

SatelLife (www.healthnet.org)

Through HealthNet, its global information and communication network, SatelLife harnesses the power of information technology to build healthier communities in the developing world. Built by partnerships with ministries of health, other medial institutions, and NGOs, HealthNet consists of many networks geared to local needs. Regional host computers and remote computers in the cities and countryside allow physicians, nurses, research medical librarians, and health managers to communicate via email, and enable them to obtain information on topics like cardiovascular health, HIV/AIDS, drugs, and health systems research.

State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (www.cdc.gov/tobacco)

State Tobacco Activities Tracking and Evaluation (STATE) is an electronic data warehouse containing up-to-date and historical state-level data on tobacco-use prevention and control. Developed by the CDC, STATE is the first-ever online compilation of this information, which includes data on the prevalence of tobacco use, tobacco control laws, the health impact and costs associated with tobacco use, and tobacco agriculture and manufacturing. Users can browse information for a specific state or a summary for all fifty states and the District of Columbia.

Tachyon, Inc. (www.tachyon.net)

Tachyon provides affordable high-speed bi-directional access to the Internet and other Internet Protocol networks via small satellite dishes. Since no telephone links are required, Tachyon can deliver high-performance access across broad geographical areas. It has particular potential for rural areas and developing countries and also for distributed enterprise and e-commerce networks and public institutions like clinics and schools. With organizations like the International Red Cross, the company is investigating a variety of public health applications, including medical education, diagnostic collaboration, outcomes analysis, epidemiology, and library access.

Tribal Connections Project (www.tribalconnections.org)

The Tribal Connections Project is helping rural and remote American Indian and Alaska Native communities in the Pacific Northwest develop information infrastructure and Internet connectivity. The goal is to minimize isolation and improve access to social and health resources for these communities. Funded by the National Library of Medicine to reduce the "digital divide" and health disparities between majority and minority populations, the Tribal Connections Project negotiates discount rates, acquires and installs computer and network equipment, provides training in retrieval of information resources, and maintains its own health information website.

Your Cancer Risk (www.yourcancerrisk.harvard.edu)

Your Cancer Risk, developed by the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention, provides individuals with personalized assessments of their risk of breast, prostate, colon, or lung cancer. After filling out brief questionnaires, users receive a description of their via a colored bar graph, which they can electronically manipulate to experience "virtual" risk reduction. Users learn where to focus their prevention efforts, how to make lifestyle changes by "clicking on" personalized strategies, and can obtain cancer-specific fact sheets that explain the link between exposure and disease.