Telemedicine for homecare: applications for AIDS patients

People suffering from chronic diseases are subject to frequent re-hospitalisations. In many cases, the patients undergo severe treatments with frequent adverse effects and possible complications. The knowledge about these therapies are more specialised than the usual medical background of the family doctor, who feels a strong need for better information on complex treatments and their possible adverse effects. As the duration of the hospital stay of the patients continues to decrease, there is also a huge demand for a better co-ordination of all the people who take the patient in charge. Shared care means that the responsibility is shared but also that the same information is available for all the involved professionals. Currently, this is not always the case, and telemedicine facilities are required to help healthcare professionals to share the management of their patients and to have at their disposal the relevant information when necessary. For this purpose, two telematic functions must be developed: (1) access to relevant data of the medical record, and (2) access to information servers for complementary services.