Health Info

COMPREHENSIVE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

Establishment of a shared on-line on-duty health care service monitoring system for the support of handling emergencies in the selected areas of the Hungarian-Slovak border region (Borsod-Abaúj Zemplén county and Kosice County).

JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROJECT

The notion of emergency medical service covers the control of a condition involving risk to life, but also means the acute health care attending to unexpected changes of conditions – which cannot wait for the day after.

The tasks of eliminating risks to life are carried out in each country by emergency medical services (EMS) operating under unified basic principles in each country, which services have a high level background in rescue organization and info-communication.

Information concerning on-duty health care services is not part of the everyday interest of people. It becomes important only when the unexpected happens. Particularly, when we need to visit an on-duty medical clinic or find a pharmacy which is open on holidays or a dentist offering care over the weekend as well. Either in our own country or elsewhere.

The ICT environment of the acute patient care suffers from serious backwardness, even though it represents Level 1 of the emergency care. The logistics of organizing of on-duty services of family doctors, dentists and pharmacies, methodology of their data handling, mode and form of access to their data, show deficiencies and major differences not only between but also within the countries.

The losers of these shortcomings are the citizens, who need to find help in an emergency, with a rather restricted possibility for seeking information, while they may suffer from drawbacks in several areas.

Groups of problems in collecting information regarding the data of on-duty health care service providers:

• information habits different from one country to another 
• media interfaces different from one country to another
• data disclosure in the native tongue of the specific country only
• areas of specialized health care different from one country to another
• lack of information (regarding the levels of emergency medical service in the given country)
• uncertainty of credibility and validity of the data explored

Groups of information problems providing on-duty health care service providers:

• difficulties of information concerning patient referral – (e.g.: the doctor does not always know which is the on-duty pharmacy)
• shortcomings in the professional relations of the on-duty health care service providers (not even the EMS ambulance service knows about the on-duty dentistry)
• lack of information (a substituting doctor from the neighbouring country would not always know the details of the patient referral of the host country)

Unjustified capacity load:

The Emergency Medical Services receive and unreasonably high number of calls of such type – due to the inadequate standards of information provided for the citizens.

The points above are true in general but they apply to both Hungary and Slovakia. As a solution a shared on-line structure is proposed for handling emergencies, which:

• unifies the data of the on-duty health care services in the countries on the two sides of the border
• allows access in several languages
• provides a possibility for enquiring regardless of the location through the technology tailor-made for the customer demands
• provides instant and authenticated information 
• coordinates the process of data supply
• gives guidance to visit the location through map support.

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

The objective of the project is the implementation of a model project in the project area designated.

The main properties of the service to be elaborated are as follows: display on maps; listing of the nearest on-duty health care service providers based upon GPS data and the cell information; continuously updated database; navigation possibility; access to the application on several platforms.

The application is significant because it can provide up to date data about the on-duty health care services and presents the list of on-duty services, which are the nearest and the quickest to reach.

There are demands for services of such kind on both sides of the border. There are so many people along the border, who work or study on the project area from the other side of the border, or simply cross the border for a business trip, shopping or tourism. These persons will/may get into a helpless situation having no knowledge of the area, the local language and adequate information about the on-duty health care services, when the unexpected happens.

By meeting the demands of the target groups – and particularly of the direct target groups – the project represents substantial and direct benefit for the target groups and the region by offering a free service which is extremely important and useful in cases of emergency.

Having access to the service, people living, working in and visiting the region will feel more safe in case of an emergency situation arising unexpectedly.

The project may serve as a model for other regions, countries and subject areas. The multiplier effect of the project is significant, as it may be extended to additional parts of the two countries, other countries and additional subject areas as well.

TARGET GROUPS

The direct target groups of the on-duty health care service system:

• In the project area
• resident citizens 
• resident students, students coming from other areas 
• resident workers, employees coming from other areas 
• travel offices, hotels, tourism facilities 
• People arriving at the project area (tourists, business persons, etc.) 
• In the project area
  • on-duty health care service providers (doctors, pharmacies, dentists)
  • bodies organizing on-duty health care services
  • EMS ambulance services
  • information bureaus

Indirect target groups of the on-duty health care service system (in or outside the field of the program)

Participating target groups

• bodies organizing on-duty health care services
• on-duty health care service providers (doctors, pharmacies, dentists)
• Mobile content providers
• Navigation device designers and operators
• project partners

Cooperating target groups:

• Coordinating agencies
• EMS rescue and ambulance services, disaster relief services
• International emergency calling lines, the European Emergency Calling System

Media users of the on-duty health care service monitoring system:

• Information Bureaus
• Call Centres
• Information services of settlements, regions, districts and countries
• Embassies

PROJECT PARTNERS

• EUROPÉER Public Benefit Foundation for European Development and Cooperation
• Regionálna rozvojová agentúra Dolný Zemplín je členom IS RRA 

PROJECT DOCUMENTS

Comparison of the Slovak health information system and the Hungarian information practice – Download

KEY PROJECT DATA

Period of implementation: 01.10.2012. – 30.11.2014.
ERDF grant contribution: 537.410,50 EUR