The general purposes/goals of this NLM project are to provide an upgraded integrated set of networked telecommunications and information technology tools to 20 health workers in four rural health clinics in southern Indiana, in order to improve the quality of health care services provided to residents, provide current health information knowledge resources to staff and clients, and develop the foundation for coordinating the delivery of health care services among agencies in the county.
Specific aims /objectives are to: 1) Upgrade existing 56K frame relay services to 128K dedicated private line services at four rural health clinics in the health-underserved areas of Orleans, Rego, Eckerty, and Marengo, IN; 2) Expand the use of electronic health information from the World Wide Web and other online sources including the National Library of Medicine in the daily operations at each clinic; 3) Expand the use of e-mail, list serves, and web-enabled scheduling software to improve communication and coordination, scheduling of patients staff, and administrative functions; 4) Deploy/use a secure, electronic patient record keeping system that can be shared/accessed by the four clinics and the hospital emergency room to improve / coordinate health care and minimize the potential for medical errors; 5) Develop and test new information technology that will support new health care solutions (e.g., web-based treatment of diabetes, follow-up services with remote information appliances, and PC-based video for tele-consulting); and 6) Provide ongoing training and technology support services to clinic staff, so they can become proficient users of technology and devote their efforts to health care.
