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Interactive Desktop Communication in Remote Education and Development of Primary Health Care
August 28, 1998
Interactive Desktop Communication in Remote Education and Development of Primary Health Care by Nokia, Helsinki Telephone and The Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care of the University of Helsinki
The Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care of the University of Helsinki, Finland, is introducing the latest information and telecommunication technology in remote teaching and development applications. The department joins forces with Nokia Display Products and Helsinki Telephone Oyj to build an interactive multimedia link with eight health centres and teaching hospitals. The project is of international significance from the point of view of both development of primary health care and computer assisted communication.
The agreement on Computer Assisted Telematic Remote Education and Development of Primary Health Care (CATRED) makes desktop communication technology developed by Nokia Display Products available to the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care and initially eight primary health centres and hospitals participating in the department's education and development programme. Helsinki Telephone acts as the telecommunication operator producing the required online audio and video links.
Professor Pertti Kekki, Chairman of the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Helsinki, says that Nokia's new desktop technology will significantly improve the education opportunities of people working at primary health care centres separated by considerable distance from each other and the department in Helsinki. The savings in travel time and costs alone will be appreciable. Altogether, the project has a sound basis.
"If we consider e.g. health centre general practitioners and other primary health care personnel, I am convinced that education and remote teaching constitute a central application area for information technology within health care," Mr Kekki states.
The Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care has utilised conventional videoconferencing technology and the Internet in regular teaching at international level. The CATRED network is based on the Nokia 447DTC/c and 447Xavc communication displays with integrated camera, loudspeakers and microphone. Nokia is the only PC display supplier specialised in audio and video communication applications in the world. Product Manager Jan Sundström says that the CATRED project highlights an important application area for Nokia.
"The PC display equipped with interactive online communication capabilities opens the door to entirely new ways of working. The application requires less desktop space and offers a compact solution including audio and camera features in one package. Also, the costs of the Nokia desktop technology are considerably lower than those of conventional videoconferencing technologies. We firmly believe that specialist education is a significant application area," Mr Sundström states.
Area Sales Manager Ebba Erolin of Helsinki Telephone Oyj points to the company's extensive operator experience in the education field.
"The CATRED project extends our scope conceptually. We participate in the development of a new type of remote education model," Mrs Erolin states.
The partners believe that the CATRED project will arouse international interest.
"There is a great deal of interest in this kind of activity. Only a few illustrative models exist, even on an international scale. A large group of people will be eager to benefit from the knowledge and experience produced by CATRED. I wish to point out for one that our department is a collaborating centre of the World Health Organisation in the development of primary health care and human resources for health," says Professor Pertti Kekki of the University of Helsinki.
Nokia is a broad-scope communications company supplying mobile phones, mobile and fixed telecommunications networks, wireless data communications solutions, multimedia terminals and computer monitors. In 1997, net sales totaled FIM 52.6 billion ($9.8 billion). Headquartered in Finland, Nokia is listed on the NYSE (NOK.A), has sales in 130 countries and employs more than 41,000 people worldwide.
Contact information:
Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Helsinki
Pertti Kekki, Professor
Tel. +358-9-191 26680
Nokia Display Products
Jan Sundström, Product Manager
Tel. +358-2-771 2398
Monika Gustavsson, PR & Marketing Manager, Northern Europe
Tel. +46-8-793 84 34
Helsinki Telephone Oyj
Ebba Erolin, Area Sales Manager
Tel. +358-9-6062684
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