Dr Philip Tideman
NEW DELHI: Dr Philip Tideman, renowned cardiologist from Australia, presented a revolutionary model for Integrated Cardiovascular Clinical Network (iCCnet) that uses Point-of-Care testing (POCT) and IT system to improve the access and delivery of professional cardiac care in the rural areas during his visit to New Delhi.
The iCCnet model functions like a ‘satellite model’ with three main components – Point-of-Care cardiac testing device (namely cobas h232), an IT system (cobas IT 1000), and a central hospital in the city.
The cobas IT 1000 connects and manages the data flow from the cobas h232 to the central hospital. By combining the Point-of-care technologies (POCT) with integrated diagnostics, treatment and triage protocols as well as specialist cardiology support services the model enables doctors in rural areas to provide early and accurate diagnosis and to ensure that patients at these rural health facilities receive access to quality cardiac care.
Through the iCCnet model, clinics in the rural areas will be equipped with the point-of-care testing device cobas h232 and these clinics will be connected to a central hospital via the IT component (cobas IT 1000).
Patients, with heart problems, walking in the clinic will be tested with the PoCT and the results will be sent to the central hospital via cobas IT 1000 for analysis by experts.
The model thus enables patients from rural areas to benefit from timely access to quality cardiac diagnostics as well as expert diagnosis and treatment advice, eliminating the need to travel.
This not only reduces the delay in cardiovascular disease detection and diagnosis but also allows for timely and appropriate management of cardiovascular diseases in the rural settings thereby improving patient outcomes.
“The Integrated Cardiovascular Clinical Network (iCCnet) is a healthcare model that leverages new technologies and cardiac markers to improve rural access to quality healthcare for heart disease patients.
More importantly, it can meet the healthcare needs of rural India by providing affordable healthcare to the masses and reducing the incidence in geographically distant areas where doctors often do not have the access to updated information and international expertise.
The success of the model in Australia, where it has already been implemented, proves that it can greatly improve CVD outcomes” said Dr. Tideman, Cardiologist, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Flinders Medical Centre, South Australia.
Poor infrastructure, inadequate testing facilities and the increasing disease burden in the rural parts of the country has added to this severity of the situation. iCCnet can be beneficial in improving healthcare accessibility issue in India. CVD is a major problem in all states which is why it is important to provide quality cardiac care even to the rural parts of the state.
iCCnet have been shown to reduce readmission rates as well as in-hospital death rates. A study had shown that the iCCnet model of care has improved patient outcomes by significantly reducing the 30-day readmission rate for Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS). Analysis of in-hospital ACS death rates before and after the Network implementation showed a marked decrease from 15.8% before the Network implementation to 9.8% after1.
The Point-of-care testing (PoCT) can enable timely and accurate diagnosis, risk stratification, and facilitation of optimal treatment for patients presenting with acute coronary symptoms (ACS) regardless of the geographical location of presentation.
Significant potential cost savings for hospitals involved in the Network have been identified. These include reduced unnecessary patient transfers and improved bed capacity use resulting from PoCT availability in smaller hospitals, reduced urgent specimen transport and laboratory staff recall costs.
Recent Government data reveals that rural India has an acute shortage of medical expertise and the number goes as high as over 16000 doctors including 12,000 specialists. Nearly 72% of the population (750 million people) based in rural India is deprived when it comes to healthcare needs.
The model, successfully set-up in Australia, has considerably improved the CVD outcomes in South Australia. It suits the Indian CVD management scenario given the nation’s geographical challenges and healthcare accessibility issues. With iCCnet, the system will bring in international standard expertise and knowledge and make it accessible to all the rural healthcare centers via a central hospital in the metropolitan part of the state. Making international knowledge and medical interventions available to the doctors in the rural areas, this model can also provide a solution to bridge the knowledge gap between the urban and rural medical professionals in India.
India Post News Service
