Design of Architecture for a Terrestrial LAN

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Design of Architecture for a Terrestrial LAN
VSAT-based National Telemedicine Network in
Ethiopia(Considering the existing WoredaNet and
BMN Networks)

• Fikreyohannes Lemma
• Addis Ababa University,
• Samuel Kinde Kassegne, PhD, PE,
• University of California Irvine, CA, USA
• Solomon Atnafu, PhD,
• Department of Computer Science
• Addis Ababa University

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Outline

• Introduction
• Objective
• The Network
• 3.1 Intra-Hospital LAN
• 3.2 WAN Infrastructure Selection
• 3.2.1 Inter-Hospital TM WAN (Option 1)
• 3.2.2 Inter-Hospital TM WAN (Option 2)
• BTIS Basic Telemedicine Information System
• Conclusions
• Recommendations

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Introduction

• Telemedicine gains popularity with the
  development of ISDN and ATM networks.
• These networks are emerging in Ethiopia.
• The development of telemedicine thus, should
  follow the same truck, since its importance is
  not doubtable,
• The needs for establishing National Telemedicine
  Network
• Establishing reliable communication,
• Achieving e-health commitment, and bring health
  care closer to underserved areas
• Strengthening collaboration, among health care
  professionals and institutes, facilitating
  information exchange
• Provide access to medical information to medical
  practitioners, helping them to update themselves
  with current development.

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Introduction

• These needs could be satisfied by
• Designing a nation wide telemedicine network,
  that connects regional clinics to urban area
  hospitals,
• Designing an appropriate telemedicine application
  that provides the necessary services, based on
  local needs.
• Designing a database system to capture patient
  data and communicated information,
• Providing training to health professionals

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Objective

• Objective of the study was to
• Explore the potential of the existing ICT
  infrastructure of the country for Telemedicine,
• Design and propose a nation-wide telemedicine
  network architecture that connects all
  regional/woreda health care centers with urban
  public hospitals (considering the existing
  WoredaNet and MBN networks),
• Demonstrate the possible use of telemedicine
  applications on the existing communication
  infrastructure and bandwidth in Ethiopia.

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The Network

• Two network designs are proposed
• Intra-hospital Local Area Network and
• Inter-hospital Telemedicine Wide Area Network
• Specific design Considerations
• Expandability
• Security
• Cost Effectiveness
• Design Requirements
• Data transmission
• Instantaneous access to patient information
• Access to Medical Information
• Access to the Internet and collaborating
  professionals

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3.1 Intra-Hospital LAN
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3.2 WAN Infrastructure Selection
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3.2.1 Inter-Hospital TM WAN (Option 1)
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3.2.2 Inter-Hospital TM WAN (Option 2)
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BTIS Basic Telemedicine Information System

• A Prototype software for Telemedicine Application
  called Basic Telemedicine Information System
  (BTIS), was developed.
• BTIS is a database driven, dynamic web-based
  application prototype,
• BTIS emulate the traditional paper based forms
  and patient cards used in the hospitals to
  electronic ones.
• The backend database is designed in such a way
  that it captures patient data (or medical
  history) and facilitates Tele-consultation on
  medical cases of patients.

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The Interfaces of BTIS
TOC
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Conclusions

• We tried to explore the existing communication
  infrastructure and investigated how telemedicine
  technologies can be exploited to provide basic
  health care service to remote areas and improve
  quality of care, while protecting the privacy,
  confidentiality and integrity of sensitive
  patient information .
• We have identified the network design
  considerations and proposed a telemedicine
  network architecture that can be implemented over
  the existing/emerging ICT infrastructure in
  Ethiopia (the WoredaNet, the BMN, etc).
• We developed a web-based prototype system, the
  BTIS, to show how the existing network
  infrastructure and the proposed architecture can
  be used to address the health care problems of
  the country.

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Recommendations

• A More Complete Telemedicine System that
  supports real time communication, patient to
  doctor communication, integrates with digital
  instruments, and could be used for training,
• Distribution of the database, for better
  performance
• Standardization of patient data management, and
  medical data terminologies for tele-consultation,
  
• Expert Systems that uses the accumulated
  knowledge captured by telemedicine systems,
• Evaluating the developments in terms of their
  cost effectiveness, integration with the
  traditional system and their usability.

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Thank You