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GMS Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie e.V. (GMDS)

ISSN 1860-9171

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HELIOS NEURONET: a new teleneuromedical network of certified Stroke Units and NeuroIntensivCare Units within the HELIOS hospital group

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  • corresponding author G. W. Ickenstein - HELIOS General Hospital Aue, Aue, Germany External link
  • U. Müschenborn - HELIOS General Hospital Aue, Aue, Germany
  • J. Klisch - HELIOS General Hospital Schwelm, Schwelm, Germany
  • H. P. Vogel - HELIOS General Hospital Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany
  • H. W. Kölmel - HELIOS General Hospital Berlin-Buch, Berlin, Germany
  • S. Isenmann - HELIOS General Hospital Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany

GMS Med Inform Biom Epidemiol 2008;4(3):Doc17

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/journals/mibe/2008-4/mibe000076.shtml

Published: October 28, 2008

© 2008 Ickenstein et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Introduction

Patients with an acute neurological disorder who arrive at the emergency room (ER) of a HELIOS General Hospital without a Neurology Department, now have the possibility to consult a Stroke Center 24/7 via video-conferencing for further diagnostic and treatment options. The clinical examination is performed together and the "remote" stroke expert is able to access the radiological data (CCT, MRI) simultaneously.

Methods

Four Stroke Center of the HELIOS hospital group (Aue, Berlin-Buch, Erfurt, Wuppertal) created a network to offer a teleneuromedical service for patients with acute neurological disorders. The online server of the "HELIOS NEURONET" accumulates data from these patients to ameliorate the quality of patient management. The acute neuromedical service is offered throughout a 24/7 calling system and the on-call responsibility rotates weekly between the Stroke Centers.

Results

In a hospital group the infra-structure of Neuro-ICU's and Stroke Units can be extended by a teleneuromedical service to use this high potential in patient care management. Especially the teleneuromedical network – including the specialties neurology, internal medicine, neurosurgery and neuroradiology – leads to a faster and safer quality of care in patient service. New concepts and time saving results will be presented and discussed.

Discussion

The efficiency of teleneuromedical services in acute stroke care in rural areas is confirmed in literature. A teleneuromedical network system with a weekly rotating service between the Stroke Centers has the advantage of an effective management during the on-call-week. The teleneuromedical consultations within the network of NeuroIntensivCare and Stroke Units at the HELIOS hospital group promises an improvement in quality of acute care in rural areas and smaller hospitals without certain specialties.