| Orange Austria and Alcatel-Lucent provide e-Health solution for Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund |
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19/06/2009 17:18 (440 Day 04:53 minutes ago) | |||||
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The FINANCIAL -- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU), Orange Austria and Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund Österreich [Workers Samaritan Federation Austria] are piloting a joint e-Health solution designed to provide better care to patients of the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund by providing a complete mobile solution for measuring blood sugar levels and blood pressure.
Modern communication technologies offer enormous potential for the advancement of healthcare and nursing. With the help of innovative communication solutions it is possible to realize significant cost savings and simplify the healthcare system. At the same time patient safety and comfort can be increased as mobile solutions enable them to receive enhanced care.
"To support this trend, Orange Austria and Alcatel-Lucent have equipped the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund with a complete mobile e-Health solution which is already available on the market. The Alcatel-Lucent TeleHealth Manager as a tele-monitoring solution combines intelligent end devices as well as the necessary infrastructure to provide remote monitoring and care. As this mobile equipment is very easy to operate, it enables a defined target group of patients to measure their own blood pressure or blood sugar level – wherever they happen to be," Alcatel-Lucent says.
“For us as a provider of healthcare services, our number one priority is people. I am therefore delighted that this solution will enable us to provide optimum care to our patients at all times – wherever they happen to be”, said Franz Schnabl, President of Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund.
The e-Health solution is based on the Alcatel-Lucent ’s TeleHealth Manager application. This product can be used to record a patient’s medical data and automatically transfer it to a database via Bluetooth and GPRS. The data is transferred securely in order to maintain the necessary high level of privacy of the persons being treated.
“We are happy to participate in this trial with Alcatel-Lucent and Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund in Austria. Modern communication technologies have enormous potential in the healthcare sector and can ease the lives of the patients, said Michael Krammer, CEO Orange Austria Telecommunications GmbH. “Such initiatives are a benefit to all – healthcare services provider, patients, nursing personnel, and doctors.”
As well as documenting the values, the solution also features an alarm function. If the measured data are conspicuous the system notifies a defined group of people, for example their relatives, care personnel or doctor by sending an SMS or e-mail. If no measurement is taken in the specified period a reminder SMS is sent to the patient or their relatives.
The solution has been commercially available in Canada since mid-2008 and is shortly due to be marketed in Austria.
“Alcatel-Lucent improves healthcare delivery by interconnecting networks, people, processes and knowledge to improve the quality of care, create more time for patient care while meeting the operational efficiencies of today’s health services providers. ” said Harald Himmer, Alcatel-Lucent ’s Country Senior Officer in Austria. “There is enormous interest in mobile communication solutions in the healthcare industry. Our application is very user-friendly and cost-effective and connects remote patients to their care providers in real time, and that is where its key potential lies.”
Univ. Prof. Dr. Siegfried Meryn is highlighting the importance of periodic measurement on the occasion of the presentation of this mobile medical diary: “Diabetes and hypertension are diseases of our civilization. Up to now, more than 1.3 million people in Austria suffer from high blood pressure. 390.000 persons are contracted with diabetes mellitus. Only through regular control of their levels and by following medical indications, the patients’ lives with these diseases can remain relatively free of symptoms.“
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