An integral care telemedicine system for HIV/AIDS patients

Objective: In this article we will describe a new approach to improve the quality of care of chronic HIV/AIDS patients, combining the integral care approach with a telemedicine system. Methods: Following the integral care approach, we included the patient in a multidisciplinary care team, covering the whole process of care with a telemedicine system that allows the patient to improve his/her self-care and to be remotely followed-up by the healthcare professionals. Results: This challenge has been met by the creation of the VIHrtual Hospital project. its main goal is the definition, development, clinical routine installation and evaluation of a telemedicine service that complements standard care with a telecare follow-up for treating stable HIV infected patients, in a chronic stage of their disease, and study if that improves the quality of assistance and the expense per patient compared to the conventional control (without telemedicine service) that patients usually have. Although the study is not yet finished, in the discussion the main benefits and drawbacks of this telemedicine system are described. Conclusions: The main conclusion of the article is that a new home telecare model for chronic HIV/AIDS patients has been created and has been implemented through the VIHrtual Hospital in the Clinic Hospital in Barcelona (Spain). The architecture of this web-based system fulfills the demanding security and integration requirements of the IT department of the hospital. An easy-to-use graphical interface for both patients and professionals has also been developed. The low costs of the system allow us to cover a wide range of patients and promising results are being obtained regarding the use of telemedicine systems for improving the follow-up care of chronic HIWAIDS patients and for creating a new care model for this disease. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.