The initiative allows child patients to take part in social life and connect with school and home, as well as allowing doctors to optimize clinical data management.
The “Smart Inclusion” project was today inaugurated on the ’s paediatric haematology and oncology wards in . Supported by the Ministry for Public Administration and Innovation, the project leverages Telecom Italia technology and funding, scientific supervision and planning from the Istituto per la Sintesi Organica e la Fotoreattività (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche CNR-ISOF, Bologna), and includes funding from the Fondazione Carige - Cassa di Risparmio di Genova. Today’s opening ceremony was attended by Minister Renato Brunetta, Telecom Italia Chairman Gabriele Galateri di Genola, Chairman of the Istituto Gaslini in Genoa Prof. Vincenzo Lorenzelli, General Manager Dr. Paolo Petralia, and Project Leader Vincenzo Raffaelli (CNR ISOF, Bologna).
This project is being rolled out as part of the Istituto Gaslini’s ongoing migration to digital. Covering all of the hospital’s administrative and healthcare operations, the transition is driven by a desire to make it easier and faster for citizens, patients and healthcare professionals to access information, while at the same time cutting costs.
Designed for long-term paediatric onco-haematology ward patients, the initiative integrates distance learning, entertainment and clinical data management services over a single Telecom Italia-built technology platform that adopts zero electromagnetic impact transmission technologies. Child patients can take part in social life and connect with the outside world simply and immediately, while healthcare professionals have access to advanced instruments that help them to treat their young patients.
This is the fifth such system to become operational as the Smart Inclusion plan goes national. The first system, for which Minister Renato Brunetta pushed strongly, was designed by Telecom Italia and CNR-ISOF Bologna and went live at the Policlinico Sant’Orsola Malpighi Hospital in February 2009.
In compliance with European Union recommendations, the project is wholly based on open source technologies, which makes it possible to achieve advanced performance while reaping significant savings on each hospital workstation and terminal.
Groundbreaking video camera-equipped Olivetti “Smart Care” touchscreen video terminals and bedside access stations allow young patients to follow lessons, stay in touch with friends and family, and access entertainment channels using finger pressure alone.
Interaction with the classroom, teachers and fellow pupils during lessons is possible in the Schools section thanks to Smart School Multimedia Interactive Whiteboards and easy-to-use interactive media stations for teachers installed in classrooms. Smart Care terminals also allow children to watch recorded lessons, complete exercises, and take individual self-learning courses. The project also offers the chance for teachers, students and families to access features of the Ministry of Education, University and Research’s Portale Innova Scuola portal, as well as traditional ward teaching activities.
The Entertainment section offers themed TV channels and on demand cartoons, films, documentaries and sport. Patients can also make video calls to family members. After coming out of hospital, children can continue to take part in lessons from home via a web cam-equipped PC.
The Hospital Section offers healthcare personnel access to clinical documents, which they may also update. The terminal can also be used by the ward sister to monitor the children’s condition, or to send out an alarm for nursing care.
Twenty-three Smart Care terminals installed at the Istituto Gaslini in Genoa will allow all of the children on the Paediatric Haematology and Oncology Ward to interact with all three middle school year classes at the “Bernardo Strozzi” School, and with 4th and 5th year Elementary School classes at the Ettorre Vernazza School in Genoa.
The agreement signed between the Ministry for Public Administration and Innovation, the CNR-ISOF and Telecom Italia provides for the extension of Smart Inclusion to the Regina Margherita Children’s Hospital in Turin before the end of 2010.
Smart Inclusion is already up and running at the Policlinico Malpighi in Bologna, the Ospedale Bambin Gesù in Rome, the Azienda Ospedaliera in Padua, and the Istituto Meyer in Florence.
Genoa, 25 September 2010
