[telemedicine] Biosurveillance is Topic at Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics Meeting

[Medical Informatics News]

The serious issues of safety and biosurveillance were discussed at the March 9, 2005 Capitol
Hill Steering Committee Meeting on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics. Panelists from universities and private
industry discussed ongoing projects and research. A summary of the meeting is available at the
Federal Telemedicin Update website, but here is a sampling
of some of the ongoing research efforts that were discussed.


Paul Oh, Ph.D., National Bioterrorism Civilian Medical Response Center
(CIMERC), Drexel University, PA, and CERMUSA, Saint Francis University in
Pennsylvania talked about working on IT tools for emergency response collaborations, including:



A project with TATRC, and Amtrak to study what would happen if a biological
or chemical attack or hazardous materials were released on a public transportation system and in this case, the
Amtrak corridor.

Small and inexpensive air and ground vehicles can be used to work with robotics In the event of a chemical
release where first responders need to be sent, robotic ground vehicles could be used equipped with sensors.

The university has a test bed on campus using an air ship to acquire images and project these images on a screen.
The next step is to examine the possible routes to take in an emergency scenario using a virtual whiteboard and
merging these images together.



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