EUROPACS-MIR 2004 in the enlarged EuropeThe 22th International Conference of the EuroPACS Association (the European Association for the Picture, Archiving and Communication Systems) combined with the MIR (Management in Radiology) Conference, will be held in Trieste, from September 16th- to September 18th , 2004. Together with the classic topics of the EuroPACS and the MIR meetings, the Trieste Conference has the special goal to discuss and propose innovative and organizational solutions for the integration of the health systems in the enlarged Europe, starting from the radiology departments and moving towards the integration of the entire healthcare enterprises. The first enlargement of Europe with the inclusion of ten Central and Eastern European countries in the European Community took place in May 2004. So, the EuroPACS and the MIR medical (mainly radiological) and bioengineering communities want to make their interdisciplinary contribution to building up the new Europe, working on pan-European e-health integration. The Conference also hosts the AURE (Academic University Radiologists Europe) meeting, as well as the DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine), HL7 (Health Level 7) and IHE (Integrating the Health Enterprise) meetings, stimulating new European activities devoted to transnational and international integration issues. The Central European Initiative (CEI), the members of which are 17 countries of Central and Eastern Europe, has financially contributed to this Conference, in particular to favor the network integration of the hospitals in the CEI European region and the participation of colleagues and PhD students coming from non-EU CEI Countries in the Conference. Thanks to active participation from American and Asian countries, besides the Central and Eastern European countries (people from 43 countries were registered up until July), this Conference makes it possible to discuss together health integration problems and solutions in industrial and transitional countries, from the technological, methodological and organizational points of view. The Conference is opened by a very exciting lecture, given by Prof. Osman Ratib (USA) on "New Paradigms and New Economics", and is organized in 5 scientific workshops, 4 scientific multiple sessions and 2 small single sessions, a "live" exhibition where about 25 companies show their ICT solutions for radiology integration and, in general, for e-health development in the enlarged Europe and in the World, and, finally, a "virtual PACS" visit. In addition, there are several meetings of the boards and assemblies of the involved associations and groups (EuroPACS, MIR, IHE, AURE, DICOM and HL7). In the 5 scientific Workshops (each one covered by one chapter of the book), the following topics will be discussed:
Each workshop is organized in 3 or more parts and deals with the standardization, organization and management issues for e-health integration at any level, from the hospital to Europe (or the World). The IHE workshop plays a special role, being organized in 10 parts (plus a poster session), spanning the status of the standards' application (DICOM and HL7) and the workflow centric IHE approach, the cross-enterprise approach and HIS-PACS integration at CEI Countries level. The workshop closes with a Round Table "IHE in the CEI countries: need for a transnational committee?", with contributions from and discussion by European key-persons about this very important theme, to foster the e-health European program in the Enlarged Europe and to start new, transnational IHE activity in Central and Eastern Europe. The 6 scientific multiple Sessions (each one covered by one chapter of the book) are complementary to the 5 Workshops. They deal with:
Of particular interest are the e-learning sessions, where the new solutions of teaching medicine and clinical engineering with the use of the emerging techniques of distance learning are discussed, and success stories are presented. The exhibition and the "virtual PACS visit", the latter called the "Alpe Adria PACS project", conclude the constructive atmosphere of the Conference. Most of the exhibition stands, including the IHE, are interconnected with each other and with a special stand "Alpe Adria PACS" organized by the Health Telematics Laboratory (HTL) and the Higher Education in Clinical Engineering (SSIC-HECE) School of the University of Trieste, in cooperation with the Departments of Radiology of the University of Padova and Trieste, the IHE Italy and some companies of Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia in agreement with HTL and HECE. The Alpe Adria PACS is in turn interconnected with hospitals in Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia, Regione Veneto, Croatia, Austria, Serbia-Montenegro and Albania, with some connections in the USA and in the UK. This collaboration of public institutions, associations, hospitals and companies constitutes living proof of what we can do (and what we cannot) and what could be our future in the integration of e-health services for the European citizen.
Paolo Inchingolo and Roberto Pozzi Mucelli
|