Today, citizens aged 65+ make up 16 percent of the total population in all EU countries; this is projected to rise to 18 percent by 2010 and will continue to rise. The most dramatic increase is expected in the 80+ age range with a corresponding increase in co-morbidities that will place additional strains on existing health systems. In this scenario, it seems clear that health systems should make the transition to new models of care, possibly with a shift towards care of the whole person, across interorganisational networks, so-called integrated care management. Obviously, for this vision to be realised, much research and piloting work remains to be done.
The consolidated results of over 10 years of research on information and communication technologies (ICT) have generated ample evidence on the enabling role of ICT for the whole range of services, from life style and personal health management, to improving the lives of patients and citizens as well as managing disease conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic heart disease (CHD) and mental health. Benefits include the prevention of acute exacerbations, management of co-morbidity, reduction of use of healthcare resources, enhanced quality of life and cost-containment. Moreover, the literature suggests that properly-designed innovative health services supported by ICT may have a positive impact on disease modulation and prognosis. However, despite considerable advances in technology, deployment has lagged behind. The barriers to deployment originate at different levels and are associated to a multitude of technological, cultural, legal, political and market related factors. The organizational impact of adopting a telemedicine solution is much more complex than that of adopting a new drug or a new hospital-based medical device. The impact ramifications are so many, in so many areas (from clinical to legal, from technical to administrative), that any health authority interested in implementing it on a significant scale finds it difficult to gather sufficient motivation to commit to large-scale implementation.
The European Journal of ePractice invites contributions from both research and practice at the crossroads of public policy, patient management best practice and technology in the eHealth domain. Contributions may address current issues such as the interoperability of Electonic Health Record (EHR) systems or may look into medium and long term future hybrids of eHealth and other domains, and may include international case-studies. Also, we invite papers on technology trends and open standards, new service provision models as well as new business models for the deployment and sustainability of innovations. Papers that may have a positive impact on the European eHealth agenda and Action Plan, are especially encouraged.
The deadline for article submissions is 1 May, 2009.
The invited editors are Kolitsi Zoi and Josep Roca.
Further information and article submission: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Article guidelines (see the full guidelines at http://www.epracticejournal.eu/guidelines)
- Language: English
- Length: Full texts of 2,000 - 6,000 words (the word limit may be extended in exceptional cases)
- Executive summary of 200-300 words
- Keywords (3-6 descriptive keywords)
- Tables, pictures and figures
- References according to the guidelines
- Author profile must be made public on ePractice.eu/people
For further information,. please visit:
- European Journal of ePractice: www.epracticejournal.eu
- ePractice: www.epractice.eu