UoM ISYS90076 IT infrastructure for eHealth T.Wani & F. Smolenaers
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ISYS90076 - IT Infrastructure for Digital Health
Minor Report #2:
“TeleHealth – Virtual Multidisciplinary Team Meetings (MDTs)”
(1,250 words on an eHealth infrastructure problem-based scenario)
Aim: to provide students a scenario-based infrastructure related challenge to identify plausible solutions
to real world problems for various demands on eHealth infrastructure.
Outcome: A 1,250 word individual report - 25 marks total.
Provide a Bibliography of at least 10 sources of information that you used to write this report (not included
in word count) (APA 6/7 Style). In this bibliography star (*) the top 3 sources you used in writing the report
and briefly note why each one was especially useful.
Clearly state the number of words that are in the body of the report.
NB: Make plausible assumptions as required and note in an Appendix – This and any tables,
diagrams, bibliography and comments are excluded from word count.
Title: “TeleHealth – Virtual Multidisciplinary Team Meetings (MDTs)”
Problem Scenario: The Oncology Department of “Metro Health” Hospital are struggling to engage with
the wide variety of care givers when cancer patients are about to return to their communities for
rehabilitation or palliative care.
The weekly Multidisciplinary Team Meetings (MDT’s) provide much needed patient handover for ongoing
management. They are aimed to optimise care coordination and educate less experienced clinicians
where possible – it needs to involve a team approach across the disciplines and across geographies e.g.
Metropolitan to Rural locations in many cases.
The Oncologist is common to the entire list of patients but the other attendees vary for each patient
being reviewed (e.g. radiation therapist, GP, palliative care physician, pharmacist, social worker, district
nurse, physiotherapist, geriatrician and sometimes family members or personal carers, etc.).
To date, only the on-site hospital staff are willing, or have been able, to attend in a physical meeting
room – this is totally inadequate.
Scheduling time slots per patient and required team is also a major issue.
Clinicians must have the ability to securely hear and see each other, share information such as PACS1
images and Pathology reports, and co-collaborate on a care plan for the patient (desktop sharing support)
on fixed and mobile devices. Patients and their caregivers are also involved in the meetings as
appropriate.
The quality of moving video is not as important as audio quality, since patients will NOT be diagnosed
over this solution, but, the ability to remotely see an x-ray in review quality is mandatory and to remotely
control the view is highly desirable.
1 PACS = Picture Archiving & Communicaton System e.g. digital medical images/Radiography scans
UoM ISYS90076 IT infrastructure for eHealth T.Wani & F. Smolenaers
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Assumptions:
1. this is a green fields implementation – an all new solution
2. all sites/end users have a minimum of a xDSL2/fibre, or better broadband links, or 4G enabled
mobile devices.
3. very few people have used enterprise collaboration tools but all know how to use free versions
of products like Zoom and have the required camera/speaker/microphones
4. there is a 3 month dedicated project officer to make this happen and setup up a framework for
continued use
5. budget is moderate – management will approve a middle of the road cost, however usability is
more important than cost
Task: Research several contemporary solutions that provide the required functionality in the scenario
and address the criteria below.
Assessment Criteria:
1. (5 Marks each) “CHOSEN SOLUTION” - A brief description of:
1.1. Preferred solution – what it is, why is was chosen above others, how it
works, costs etc.
1.2. Why it meets the needs of this MDT requirement – address all
user/functional/security requirements in the scenario!
2. (5 Marks Each) Provide further information about the following aspects of this issue and
provide further information on:
A. END USER DEVICES & CONNECTIVITY – Detail the device types that your chosen
solution allows and the choices of network connections.
B. SCHEDULING – Outline the intricacies of how scheduling can best be achieved
across the disparate attendees and organisations for your chosen solution.
3. (5 Marks) Sources of information used in preparing this report
Submission Date: by 5PM on Thursday 20/04/2023
2 xDSL = Various Digital Subscriber Line technologies for last mile premises connection to the internet such
vDSL for NBN copper connections from the fibre enabled node.
3 SaaS = Software as a Service – purchase cloud hosted usage rather than deploy on premise.
UoM ISYS90076 IT infrastructure for eHealth T.Wani & F. Smolenaers
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An illustration of a coordinated workforce.
Source: https://www.nap.edu/read/18359/chapter/6#176
An illustration of a coordinated cancer care team.
Source: https://www.nap.edu/read/18359/chapter/6#176