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StatusCompleted
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Status date2014-12-09
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Activity Code8-.003
Western Societies are becoming increasingly mobile. Every year a rising number of people visit foreign countries for private or business reasons. The objective of the TEMOS project is to establish a globally active satellite based competence network, which optimises medical care of humans (tourists and business travellers) in the mobile society.
This network will be open for all interested hospitals and medical institutions such as general practitioners or assistance companies who agree to accept and apply the TEMOS quality criteria as developed within the framework of the project. By means of different approaches such as tele-education, tele-consultation, telemedicine services, exchange of knowledge and an evaluation system, a high quality of medical care for travellers abroad shall be realised.
Once the quality criteria and workflow procedures have been developed, the clinic network will be established. A first telemedicine centre will be built up at Aachen. Standardised user terminals will be developed to allow and guarantee communication, exchange of knowledge, and to offer second opinions and other medical services. An e-learning platform will be developed. Existing curricula of travel medicine will be expanded and converted into distant learning courses which will be available worldwide.
A main benefit will be the improvement in quality of health care for tourists and business travellers in foreign countries. As a result of the evaluation of each participating network partner, the quality of the respective institutions will be transparent to the public. Pharmacists and physicians can give advice to patients who plan to travel. Travellers have the possibility to inform themselves beforehand which hospital might be helpful in case of an emergency.
Detailed information of the neutral institution at Aachen will help assist companies in case of an unclear situation where a decision about repatriation must be made. There exists a high potential to save expenses. Network partners get a certificate as a TEMOS member, which can be used for PR activities. Interested institutions get the possibility of second opinion or other medical assistance by the TCA. The tele-education platform for physicians and pharmacists offers flexible further education, which is neither attached to a certain place nor time.
The project consists of 3 main parts.
The first part of the project deals with the formation of an international network of hospitals and other medical institutions of which the Telemedicine Centre Aachen (TCA) will be the connecting centre. These institutions fulfil defined TEMOS quality standards and are interested in optimising the medical care of patients. TEMOS quality standards will be established in cooperation with different medical disciplines, repatriation organisations and assistance companies. Descriptions of "TEMOS institutions" will be published on the internet by the Centre for Travel Medicine (CRM) and then made available for the interested public.
By means of tele-consulting, the second part of the project and the core application of the herein described satellite based network, partner hospitals can get in touch with the TCA or each other and get support in diagnostic problems or difficult therapeutic decisions. To guarantee a year-around 24 hour availability and an optimal quality of transferred data (e.g. ultrasound or echocardiograph scans in real-time), which may be of vital relevance, a satellite based communication infrastructure will be established.
A further feature to be supported by the network is a continuous medical education (CME) for European physicians within the scope of travel medicine. Exchange of knowledge between the partners provides a better understanding of the country-specific problems tourists and business travellers are confronted with all over the world. Existing curricula of travel medicine will be expanded and converted into distant learning courses, which will be available worldwide.
The duration of the project is 24 months. Months 1-9 are defined as the preparation phase where the preconditions to run the system will be established. Months 10-12 will be the test phase. Here the first experience in running the system will be obtained. As a consequence the system will be optimised in co-operation with all partners during the last period between months 13 and 24. Within the last 6 months the operational (business) phase will be prepared.
TEMOS has completed the second half of the Pilot Utilization Phase. TEMOS will now take the final steps to be ready for business and will operate as a TEMOS company afterwards. Please find below a summary of our current activities.
New TEMOS logo and website:
The TEMOS team is very pleased with the new logo and the new website, which was launched in October 2008 at http://www.temos-worldwide.com/.
Online Teaching:
All online teaching sessions "global epidemic status" were carried out successfully between April and July. Starting in October this course will be offered every first Wednesday of the month. In addition, every third Wednesday online teaching sessions will be offered on special topics around travel medicine. Further information is available on the CRM website www.crm.de.
TEMOS information system:
The TEMOS hospital database comprises of validated information on about 1800 hospitals and medical institutions in 68 countries.
Since October 2008 the TEMOS Hospital Guide is available on the new TEMOS website at http://www.temos-worldwide.com/. All hospitals are displayed via Google Maps.
Hospital evaluation:
A certification visit to Indonesia took place in spring 2008. Five hospitals were visited. We have welcomed the Surakarta Islamic Hospital as a new TEMOS certified partner hospital. We were also very pleased to hand over the TEMOS certificate to the Bangkok Hospital Medical Center. Recently the first hospital in Slovenia has been evaluated on-site. Other Slovenian hospitals have already expressed their interest in a TEMOS certification.
Grand opening of new building at Surakarta Islamic Hospital:
Dr. Mika, TEMOS director attended the grand opening of the new building of Surakarta Islamic Hospital in Indonesia. 600 invited guests including the Governor of Central Java and representatives from the health sector participated and followed the ceremonial presentation of the TEMOS certificate to Dr. Djufrie, the director of the hospital.
Presentation of the TEMOS certificate to Dr. Djufrie, director of Surakarta Islamic Hospital
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Journal 'The TravelMedicus': The new issue features, among others, information about the new TEMOS website and hospital guide, a report on the successful treatment of a premature infant at Surakarta Islamic Hospital, a visit of Bangkok Hospital representative Ralf Krewer to German Aerospace Center in Cologne and it offers various viewpoints on the issue of travel and health. In addition, partners from Greece and Brazil present themselves and we introduce our new representative in Egypt. TEMOS will continue to publish its current activities and developments not only in e-newsletters and on the website, but also in a print journal. The next issue is scheduled for the first quarter of 2009.
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TEMOS Students' project:
After the successful implementation of the students' Teleteaching course last year we started the second course at the end of April. According to the didactical concept of "problem oriented learning" the medical students prepared presentations in the fields of "cardiology", "neurology", "dermatology" and "hypothermia". Beside the students groups from Brazil and Germany, a group from Lithuania and a group from the Warsaw University participated. The final presentations took place via videoconference on 5th, 12th and 19th June.
'TeleTEaching' students group from PUCRS University Brazil
The evaluation of both courses has demonstrated that students and supervising experts alike appreciate the exchange and discussion with other countries. Students learn how to use videoconference- systems and how to independently develop and present a case-based subject in English language. We invite interested universities to actively contribute to the development of this network. The next course has started in October 2008. Students at Aachen University, Germany are going to present topics from "neurosurgery".
Contact details TEMOS project
For further information please contact the project manager Dr. Claudia Mika at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR):
Email: claudia.mika@dlr.de
Phone: +49(0) 2203 601 2709
Fax:+49 (0) 2203 63030
http://www.temos-worldwide.com/
