Application of medical information system for telepathology--Georgian experience

The field of healthcare informatics is rapidly evolving. The new models and protocols of medical information system (MIS) are developed. Despite obvious advantages and benefits, practical application of MIS in everyday practice is slow. Much progress has been made around the world in the field of digital imaging and virtual slides, but in Georgia telepathology is still in evolving stages. It revolves around static telepathology.

Practical application of MIS has been started in Georgia. The architecture of the mentioned system and its usage for telepathology will be presented.

The MIS has been created with .Net technology and structure query language (SQL) database architecture. It involves a multiuser Web-based approach. By this, local (intranet) and remote (Internet) access of the system and management of databases can be achieved. Two hundred electronic medical records illustrated by images were selected for telepathology consultations. These electronic medical records were written in Georgian. This predetermines organization of regional second opinion consultations. For security reasons all experts have been registered as users at MIS.

MIS has been launched in Georgia. Its primary goal is patient management. However, the system can be successfully applied for static telepathology purposes.

The ideal of healthcare in the information age must be to create a situation where healthcare professionals spend more time creating knowledge from medical information and less time managing medical information. The application of easily available and adaptable technology and improvement of the infrastructure conditions is the basis for telemedical applications. The usage of MIS holds the potential to realize telepathology in the effective and comprehensive mode.