G-853

Telemedicine for Rural Health

Description

Financing

Documents

Photos

History Logs

Project Description

Region: Eastern Europe

Country: Kosovo

Location: Gjakova

Total Budget: $102,000

Area of Focus: Disease prevention and treatment



Telemedicine for Rural Health Clinics - Kosovo

Short Project Description: The project will fund digital medical devices at health clinics for the purpose of conducting patient exams and transmitting data (including images) to a Hub at the main hospital over Wireless internet systems.

Problem Description: Kosovo has a shortage of medical doctors and those available are reluctant to locate in poor rural areas where salaries are low and living conditions are substandard. This project is to remediate problems with health care by introducing wireless technology to rural health clinics. Through telemedicine, a doctor will provide diagnostic services and recommended treatment in real time without the need for villagers travel great distances. Furthermore the poor will more likely seek medical care early, thereby averting serious illnesses through early intervention. Use of modern technology is key to improving the wellness of all citizens, enabling physicians to

operate more efficiently and reducing government healthcare costs.

Project Description: The program concept is to provide telemedicine stations in rural clinics, starting with the most remote locations. Those clinics outfitted with a station will serve communities having the greatest difficulty getting to a hospital or where doctors only visit once a week. Telemedicine stations will supply mobile medical devices, IT equipment and trained staff needed to execute real time diagnosis and treatment given by their colleagues at the telemedicine hub in the Family Medicine Center (FMC) in Gjakova. The FMC Director affirms that doctors based at the hub can handle most cases, while more serious cases can be linked to the University Hospital or even abroad.

The Director of the Gjakova FMC has informed the new Wireless Health Center in Prishtina about this initiative and is coordinating access from the Gjakova Telemedicine system to the Center's medical eLibary and their Internet Communication Technology (ICT). ICT functionality will provide on-line seminars and training programs to staff at all rural health clinics in the program. The Telemedicine Center of Kosovo (TCK) is being operated with the assistance of a non-profit organization - Virtual International

eHospital Foundation IVeH - affiliated with the University of Arizona. The Host Rotary Club in Gjakova will work with the Center to assure ICT's compatibility with the telemedicine system and will make certain Gjakova Stations have uninterrupted access to their e-library. Using ICT to train medical staff in Gjakova and surrounding villages on telemedicine will be invaluable and cost effective.

Telemedicine Station Fundamentals. Stations will be located in rural health clinics starting in the most remote villages of Gjakova. Each clinic will designate one room for a station where diagnostic tests on their rural patients can be performed. Data will automatically be sent to the Telemedicine Hub for analysis and treatment directives.

Over time, as clinic staff access the vast medical digest of the Wireless Center e-library and grow their knowledge, rural staff members will greatly influence health outcomes in their areas.

Telemedicine Hub Fundamentals: The Hub will be incorporated into the Main FMC in Gjakova, which serves as the epicenter for all Primary Health Care (Family Medicine) centers in the municipality. Most experienced Family Medicine doctors and specialty doctors are found there.

Geographic Area: This project will serve Gjakova Municipality in western Kosovo. The Municipality is composed of 69 villages, 31 health centers and hospital in Gjakova. Digital devices and wireless systems will be installed in 3 remote centers and the hospital hub.

Target Group Description: Ten thousand villagers at the low end of the economic scale and unable to travel to a hospital will be served by three clinics. Doctors will also benefit as technologically-based efficiencies help them increase healthcare for populations outside large cities.

How are the Edwards Rotary Club and its Partners best suited to address the problem? It is at the field level where the most work needs to be done for humanitarian projects. The Edwards Rotary Club lead team member is a Professional Engineer who has worked in Kosovo in 2008-09 and in 2013 and has in-depth knowledge of the problem of inaccessible healthcare for underprivileged rural communities, as well as the collective capacity of local municipalities and medical facilities to contribute towards the success of a technology-based healthcare program. During these past several months, he has worked with the Gjakova Mayor and doctors on preliminary design of a telemedicine project. They are all excited about this endeavor and have pledged assistance, including coverage of financial overruns if required.

Vail's lead team member on this project had also actively attended Rotary Club meetings in Kosovo and observed how their clubs are far more active than the average club. They have already contributed towards predesign efforts over the past couple of months. (Nothing assures a successful project more than a solid desire on the part of the stakeholders to improve the livelihood of their communities.) The camaraderie has helped forge steadfast relationships between the two clubs, along with an appreciation and understanding for the roles and capabilities of each party.

How do we plan to evaluate the success of the program? Eight indicators will be used to determine program success: 1) Increase in the number of rural patients served, 2) decrease in the number of doctor visits to remote sites required, 3) decrease in the number of major illnesses in rural communities due to early medical intervention, 4) number of online training sessions accessed via the medical eLibrary, 5) increase in clinic staff core competencies, 6) ease of use of telemedicine hardware and software, 7) high ratings of user satisfaction with the program, and 8) cost reports for each milestone showing cost-to-date and contractual obligations met.

The primary tool to measure levels of success will be the Family Medical Center (FMC) tracking system that currently tracks 19 major illnesses by clinic. The FMC tracking system will establish trends for those illnesses.

Additional tracking logs maintained by rural clinics in the program will document numbers for all performance indicators listed above. To assess user satisfaction, patient surveys will be conducted over the life of the project. And to assess development of rural medical provider knowledge, all grades rendered after obtaining training and examination from eLibrary medical courses will be chronicled.

Optional comment sections on all logs maintained by the FMC and by rural clinics will include an optional comment section to record significant enhancements or problems with the technology.

Timeline: Application will be submitted in January 2015, funding transferred to Host Club in May-June 2015 and Implementation completed by December 2015. The end of the first year of operations will be December 2016.

Primary Host Partner

District: 53

Rotary Club of: Gjakova-Qabrati

Primary Contact: Butrint Batalli

Email: butrintb@gmail.com

Primary International Partner

District: 5470

Rotary Club of: Edwards

Primary Contact: Richard Dangler

Email: rdangler@hotmail.com

Project Status

Dropped
This project has been "Dropped". Check the history log entries to see why it was dropped.

Project listed for the 2014-15 Rotary Year.

The TRF Grant application number is #1524009.

Proposed Financing

Existing Contributions Towards This Project

Date

Cash

DDF

Total

Gjakova-Qabrati (53)

27-Sep-14

$2,000

$2,000

$4,000

Edwards (5470)

27-Sep-14

$20,000

$10,000

$30,000

Remaining Amount to Raise

Additional Club Contribution (Needed) - Add a contribution

$30,000

-

$30,000

Amount Requested from The Rotary Foundation

$26,000

$12,000

$38,000

Total

$102,000

Project Supporting Documents


There are no documents yet for this project.
Go to the administration page to upload documents.

Project Photos


There are no photos yet for this project.
Go to the administration page to upload photos.

History Log Entries

27-Sep-14

System Entry

Creation of project page.

2-Sep-15

System Entry

Project dropped per lack of response to the carry-over notification emails.

© 2010 Philippe Lamoise - Website design by Philippe Lamoise, D2G Online