Researcher and practitioners are invited to submit on or before October 31, 2008 a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by November 30, 2008 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by February 28, 2009. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group Reference) and “Medical Information Science Reference” imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com.
Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document) to:
Ekaterina (Eka) Kldiashvili, Ph.D.
Georgian Telemedicine Union (Association)
75 Kostava str., 0171 Tbilisi, GeorgiaEmail: grid_technologies_for_ehealth@yahoo.com
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Synopsis
The Manuscript "Grid Technologies for E-Health: Applications for Telemedicine Services and Delivery" will present a new model of Advanced Grid Technologies, Systems and Services to implement a new model of Virtual Organization for healthcare support.
Introduction
State of the Art Grid Technology
“Grid” computing has emerged as an important new field, distinguished from conventional distributed computing by its focus on large-scale resource sharing, innovative applications, and, in some cases, high-performance orientation. Grid computing is increasingly being viewed as the next phase of distributed computing. Built on pervasive Internet standards, Grid computing enables organizations to share computing and information resources across department and organizational boundaries in a secure, highly efficient manner. Organizations around the world are utilizing Grid computing today for a whole host of different applications such as collaborative scientific research, drug discovery, financial risk analysis, product design, etc. Grid computing enables, for example, research-oriented organizations to solve problems that were infeasible to solve due to computing and data-integration constraints. Grids also reduce costs through automation and improved IT resource utilization. Finally, Grid computing can increase an organization’s agility enabling more efficient business processes and greater responsiveness to change. Over time Grid computing will enable a more flexible, efficient and utility-like global computing infrastructure.
Virtual Organizations (VOs) are a set of individuals and/or institutions that have direct access to computers, software, data, and other resources, and to share resources in a highly controlled manner, with resource providers and consumers defining clearly and carefully just what is shared, who is allowed to share, and the conditions under which sharing occurs. VOs vary tremendously in their purpose, scope, size, duration, structure, community, and sociology yet they all involve a broad set of common concerns and requirements, namely: the need for highly flexible sharing relationships, ranging from client-server to peer-to-peer; for sophisticated and precise levels of control over how shared resources are used, including fine-grained and multi-stakeholder access control, delegation, and application of local and global policies; for sharing of varied resources, ranging from programs, files, and data to computers, sensors, and networks; and for diverse usage modes, ranging from single user to multi-user and from performance sensitive to cost-sensitive and hence embracing issues of quality of service, scheduling, co-allocation, and accounting.
Current distributed computing technologies do not address the above concerns and requirements, and it is here precisely where Grid technologies come on the scene.
State of the Art Telemedicine and eHealth
From its inception, the goal of telemedicine has been to overcome the time and distance barriers that separate the caregiver from the patient. Widespread adoption of the technology has been hampered by a number of technological, regulatory and other barriers. Innovations such as computer-based patient records, remote consultations, clinical information systems, computer-based decision support tools, mobile and wireless terminals, community health information networks, and new ways of distributing health information to professionals and consumers are supported by, and in some cases reliant on, the widespread use of networked telemedicine technologies.
Grid technology acquires more importance today. The main advantage of application of Grid technology for eHealth is the new and effective opportunities for establishment and creation of eHealth networks as well as of implementation of clinical information systems and databases.
“Grid” computing has emerged as an important new field, distinguished from conventional distributed computing by its focus on large-scale resource sharing, innovative applications, and, in some cases, high-performance orientation. Grid computing is increasingly being viewed as the next phase of distributed computing. Built on pervasive Internet standards, Grid computing enables organizations to share computing and information resources across department and organizational boundaries in a secure, highly efficient manner. Organizations around the world are utilizing Grid computing today for a whole host of different applications such as collaborative scientific research, drug discovery, financial risk analysis, product design, etc. Grid computing enables, for example, research-oriented organizations to solve problems that were infeasible to solve due to computing and data-integration constraints. Grids also reduce costs through automation and improved IT resource utilization. Finally, Grid computing can increase an organization’s agility enabling more efficient business processes and greater responsiveness to change. Over time Grid computing will enable a more flexible, efficient and utility-like global computing infrastructure.
Virtual Organizations (VOs) are a set of individuals and/or institutions that have direct access to computers, software, data, and other resources, and to share resources in a highly controlled manner, with resource providers and consumers defining clearly and carefully just what is shared, who is allowed to share, and the conditions under which sharing occurs. VOs vary tremendously in their purpose, scope, size, duration, structure, community, and sociology yet they all involve a broad set of common concerns and requirements, namely: the need for highly flexible sharing relationships, ranging from client-server to peer-to-peer; for sophisticated and precise levels of control over how shared resources are used, including fine-grained and multi-stakeholder access control, delegation, and application of local and global policies; for sharing of varied resources, ranging from programs, files, and data to computers, sensors, and networks; and for diverse usage modes, ranging from single user to multi-user and from performance sensitive to cost-sensitive and hence embracing issues of quality of service, scheduling, co-allocation, and accounting.
Current distributed computing technologies do not address the above concerns and requirements, and it is here precisely where Grid technologies come on the scene.
State of the Art Telemedicine and eHealth
From its inception, the goal of telemedicine has been to overcome the time and distance barriers that separate the caregiver from the patient. Widespread adoption of the technology has been hampered by a number of technological, regulatory and other barriers. Innovations such as computer-based patient records, remote consultations, clinical information systems, computer-based decision support tools, mobile and wireless terminals, community health information networks, and new ways of distributing health information to professionals and consumers are supported by, and in some cases reliant on, the widespread use of networked telemedicine technologies.
Grid technology acquires more importance today. The main advantage of application of Grid technology for eHealth is the new and effective opportunities for establishment and creation of eHealth networks as well as of implementation of clinical information systems and databases.
Keywords and target audience
Keywords: Grid, Virtual Organization, eHealth, Clinical information system, eImaging, ePharmacology, eDiagnosis, eClinic, eLearning, Virtual Epidemiology.
Target audience: The target audiences for the present publication are: healthcare professionals, eHealth and telemedicine specialists and researchers, IT specialists, healthcare authorities and managers.
Target audience: The target audiences for the present publication are: healthcare professionals, eHealth and telemedicine specialists and researchers, IT specialists, healthcare authorities and managers.
Objectives and mission
Efficient, effective and reliable remote healthcare diagnosis, treatment and monitoring represent a holy grail in medicine but solutions have so far proved elusive.
Deployment of Information Technologies (IT) in many sectors has delivered major transformational change. This should hold true in delivering potential to improve healthcare significantly in terms of providing the tools for the world-wide uptake of telemedicine thus delivering radical improvements in service productivity, access to health services, improved quality of care and acceptable levels of patient safety. However, according to the results of the recent largest every survey on European hospitals by the Health Information Network Europe, this potential is currently not being realized by the majority of European Hospitals. Grid technology could serve to breakdown many of the existing barriers to the uptake of telemedicine in the world (integration in healthcare delivery, costs, application complexity, etc.). The overall objective of this present publication centres on the presentation of a unified, effective and resilient telemedicine system through the usage of a Virtual Organizational approach implemented via Grid technology.
The scientific objective of this publication focuses on presentation of research projects into Grid technologies. In essence Grid is “An infrastructure that enables flexible, secure, coordinated resource sharing among dynamic collections of individuals, institutions and resources”. Grid is a type of parallel and distributed system that enables the sharing, selection, and aggregation of geographically distributed “autonomous” resources dynamically at runtime depending on their availability, capability, performance, cost, and users’ quality-of-service requirements. Grids aim at exploiting synergies that result from cooperation and the ability to share and aggregate distributed computational capabilities and deliver them as service. Two classes of Grids will be described: Data/Information/Knowledge Grids and Collaborative Grids. Special focus will be made on networks of Virtual Organizations and the areas of ePharmacology, eImaging, eClinic and eLearning.
The publication aims to present a secure infrastructure for advanced collaborative environments, using multi-site videoconferencing, real-time delivery of microscope imagery and communication and archiving of radiological images to support multi-disciplinary meetings for the review of illness diagnoses and treatment. The publication also hopes to demonstrate the feasibility of remote access to computational medical simulations and the data-mining of patient record databases for improved clinical decision making.
The overall and operational objectives of the publication are as follows:
· To present the potential of using Clusters and Virtual Organization (VO) in the Grid technologies, systems and services area for healthcare purposes.
· To present an operative model of Cluster cooperation in the specified technological field of eHealth .
· To describe integrated voice, video and data system technology and its implementation in eClinic (telediagnosis, teleconsulting, teleradiology, telepathology), eLearning (teleinstruction and teleeducation), eImaging (videoconferencing to support multidisciplinary team meetings and diagnosis across distances by improved imaging technology), ePharmacology (health management – remote databases access; remote databases managements; medical statistical surveys; general hygienic education; disaster mitigation; better remote, integrated, medical management; Virtual Epidemiology).
In terms of the wider objectives of this publication, it envisages the description and presentation of Grid technologies which enable: implementation of clinical information system, secure remote patient diagnosis, treatment, follow up and monitoring; distance education.
The mission of the publication is to present the perspectives and possibilities of application of Grid technologies for eHealth purposes and promotion of new projects and research activities in this field.
Deployment of Information Technologies (IT) in many sectors has delivered major transformational change. This should hold true in delivering potential to improve healthcare significantly in terms of providing the tools for the world-wide uptake of telemedicine thus delivering radical improvements in service productivity, access to health services, improved quality of care and acceptable levels of patient safety. However, according to the results of the recent largest every survey on European hospitals by the Health Information Network Europe, this potential is currently not being realized by the majority of European Hospitals. Grid technology could serve to breakdown many of the existing barriers to the uptake of telemedicine in the world (integration in healthcare delivery, costs, application complexity, etc.). The overall objective of this present publication centres on the presentation of a unified, effective and resilient telemedicine system through the usage of a Virtual Organizational approach implemented via Grid technology.
The scientific objective of this publication focuses on presentation of research projects into Grid technologies. In essence Grid is “An infrastructure that enables flexible, secure, coordinated resource sharing among dynamic collections of individuals, institutions and resources”. Grid is a type of parallel and distributed system that enables the sharing, selection, and aggregation of geographically distributed “autonomous” resources dynamically at runtime depending on their availability, capability, performance, cost, and users’ quality-of-service requirements. Grids aim at exploiting synergies that result from cooperation and the ability to share and aggregate distributed computational capabilities and deliver them as service. Two classes of Grids will be described: Data/Information/Knowledge Grids and Collaborative Grids. Special focus will be made on networks of Virtual Organizations and the areas of ePharmacology, eImaging, eClinic and eLearning.
The publication aims to present a secure infrastructure for advanced collaborative environments, using multi-site videoconferencing, real-time delivery of microscope imagery and communication and archiving of radiological images to support multi-disciplinary meetings for the review of illness diagnoses and treatment. The publication also hopes to demonstrate the feasibility of remote access to computational medical simulations and the data-mining of patient record databases for improved clinical decision making.
The overall and operational objectives of the publication are as follows:
· To present the potential of using Clusters and Virtual Organization (VO) in the Grid technologies, systems and services area for healthcare purposes.
· To present an operative model of Cluster cooperation in the specified technological field of eHealth .
· To describe integrated voice, video and data system technology and its implementation in eClinic (telediagnosis, teleconsulting, teleradiology, telepathology), eLearning (teleinstruction and teleeducation), eImaging (videoconferencing to support multidisciplinary team meetings and diagnosis across distances by improved imaging technology), ePharmacology (health management – remote databases access; remote databases managements; medical statistical surveys; general hygienic education; disaster mitigation; better remote, integrated, medical management; Virtual Epidemiology).
In terms of the wider objectives of this publication, it envisages the description and presentation of Grid technologies which enable: implementation of clinical information system, secure remote patient diagnosis, treatment, follow up and monitoring; distance education.
The mission of the publication is to present the perspectives and possibilities of application of Grid technologies for eHealth purposes and promotion of new projects and research activities in this field.
Scholarly value and potential contribution
The development of applications and tools for high performance computational Grids is complicated by the heterogeneity and frequently dynamic behavior of the underlying resources; by the complexity of the applications themselves which often combine aspects of supercomputing and distributed computing and by the need to achieve high levels of performance. The key to realizing the benefits of Grid computing is standardization, so that the diverse resources that make up a modern computing environment can be discovered, accessed, allocated, monitored, and in general managed, as a single virtual system – even when provided by different vendors and/or operated by different organizations. Standardization is an important goal but cannot always be achieved. Thus interoperability of different solutions is equally important. The publication will present the existing state-of-the-art in Grid technology which is applied for healthcare purposes. It will contribute to identifying new approaches to Virtual Organization technology and to advancing the current generation of Grids towards the knowledge Grid and complete virtualization of Grid resources. The publication will present existing schemes in order to identify, extract and describe best practice in order to foster uptake and use of Grid technology in within eHealth. It will represent a platform to accelerate the adoption of Grid technology within eHealth and to demonstrate its utility.
Purpose and potential impact
eHealth is becoming the third industrial pillar for health, behind the pharmaceutical industry and medical imaging, to reach an estimated 5% of all healthcare expenditures by the year 2010. Telemedicine and eHealth hold huge potential to increase productivity in today’s patient- and hospital-centred healthcare delivery systems, and will pay a fundamental role for engineering a new concept in tomorrow’s citizen- and home-centred health systems. eHealth can empower patients and improve healthcare. Even more importantly, by reducing the scope for medical errors, it can save lives.
Much of today’s medicine and healthcare is highly collaborative and inter-disciplinary and is thus increasingly reliant on distributed global collaborations enabled by the Internet. If there is one thing that typifies such collaborations it is the need to access and visualize huge amounts of data which requires huge computing resources. Grid architecture may well be the enabler of this “virtual world” vision as it represents an infrastructure that enables flexible, secure, coordinated resource sharing among dynamic collections of individuals, institutions and resources.
Telemedicine can be defined as the delivery of healthcare services, where distance is a critical factor, by all healthcare professionals using information and communications technologies for the exchange of valid information for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease and injuries, research and evaluation, and for the continuing education of healthcare providers, all in the interest of advancing the health of individuals and their communities. The potential for Grid technology to enhance and improve telemedicine and eHealth on a world scale is huge. It seems appropriate to state that the application of Grid technology for eHealth purposes represents a fusion of technology needs and technology enablement which will deliver huge benefits to the innovativeness of the world healthcare.
The strategic impact of the publication is highly significant. This publication will demonstrate the capability of Grid technology to improve the delivery of patient care, the long-term sustainability of telemedicine, a smart use of networks in order to guarantee secure and high-quality circulation of transmitted information and focus on the patient’s privilege. The publication by addressing these strategic and critical issues will contribute to ensuring the reliability and durability of telemedicine.
In keeping with the scientific and technical objectives of this present publication, it will significantly contribute to the creation and development of national and international standards. In addition the publication will focus particular attention on the following:
· Identification of policies for eHealth and Telemedicine and strategies for their implementation.
· Standardization policies.
Much of today’s medicine and healthcare is highly collaborative and inter-disciplinary and is thus increasingly reliant on distributed global collaborations enabled by the Internet. If there is one thing that typifies such collaborations it is the need to access and visualize huge amounts of data which requires huge computing resources. Grid architecture may well be the enabler of this “virtual world” vision as it represents an infrastructure that enables flexible, secure, coordinated resource sharing among dynamic collections of individuals, institutions and resources.
Telemedicine can be defined as the delivery of healthcare services, where distance is a critical factor, by all healthcare professionals using information and communications technologies for the exchange of valid information for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease and injuries, research and evaluation, and for the continuing education of healthcare providers, all in the interest of advancing the health of individuals and their communities. The potential for Grid technology to enhance and improve telemedicine and eHealth on a world scale is huge. It seems appropriate to state that the application of Grid technology for eHealth purposes represents a fusion of technology needs and technology enablement which will deliver huge benefits to the innovativeness of the world healthcare.
The strategic impact of the publication is highly significant. This publication will demonstrate the capability of Grid technology to improve the delivery of patient care, the long-term sustainability of telemedicine, a smart use of networks in order to guarantee secure and high-quality circulation of transmitted information and focus on the patient’s privilege. The publication by addressing these strategic and critical issues will contribute to ensuring the reliability and durability of telemedicine.
In keeping with the scientific and technical objectives of this present publication, it will significantly contribute to the creation and development of national and international standards. In addition the publication will focus particular attention on the following:
· Identification of policies for eHealth and Telemedicine and strategies for their implementation.
· Standardization policies.
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