BUSINESS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Successful and sustainable e-health care
Ton Spil teaches as an assistant professor at the Department of Information Systems Change Management and conducts information network research studies in the areas of digital music and e-health care.
His most recent research focuses on a Rwandan case study to explore ways telehealth can add value and enhance the quality of life for people in developing countries. Researchers made comparisons with Dutch and Canadian situations.
Through investigating the use of telecommunications, Spil discovered "time" factors are the most important aspect of telecare health care services in the Netherlands and "learning", on the other hand, is less urgent. In contrast, the Rwandan case study revealed the opposite held true and "knowledge transfer", not time, was the chief factor. Covering a similar subject area, he compared the use of electronic patient records in 18 hospitals and conducted research on the future of e-health with American and Canadian scientific partners.
In the near future, he foresees the following scenario: "There will not be enough qualified nurses and though less urgent", he says, "there will be fewer doctors who can cure or offer medical care for people in need. At the moment, e-health care is a luxury, but the long-term prediction is that it will turn into a vital necessity."
An advocate of the electronic patient record, Spil's research results cast a wide safety net to prepare future generations to better manage information and knowledge in integrated health care systems. At an upcoming AMCIS conference in 2011, he will hold a chair to engage in dialogue on the impact of information systems and technologies in the health care sector with other global researchers.
In 2011, the assistant professor imagines new possibilities opening for electronic patient record systems that create the push for a sustainable e-health system. In China, he is associate editor for the International Conference on Information Systems located in Shanghai, a global event based around the theme of "East Meets West: Connectivity and Collaboration through Effective Information Systems." In 2012, he will chair the e-health track at the biggest European Conference of Information Systems in Barcelona.
Elfi Furtmuller Assistant Professor IS&CM
-DEF.jpg "Lucas Meertens")
Business models for elderly care
PhD Candidate Lucas Meertens studies in the Information Systems & Change Management Department and holds a Master's in Business & Information Technology.
Currently, Meertens is involved with the U-Care project, which is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Looking ahead, he aims to help develop a platform for wellness and health care applications that concentrates on services to assist the increasing "greying population", people who are 50 years and older, in benefiting from the advantages of integrated homecare systems.
His goal: "We propose to decrease the average retirement age. Our model will prove a better way to invest in innovations than the current approaches", where he claims money is being invested in the development of technology before it is actually known in which direction developments are needed.
The U-Care platform differs from current platforms in that it provides basic context-aware functions to be used as service building blocks. He clarifies his specific contribution: "My focus is on the business aspects of the project: stakeholder analysis, business model and the overall architecture."
Within a few months, he says, the results of his research will show where health care costs can be decreased by using a quantitative business model to analyze organisations, and lower the retirement age in the end.
The partners in the U-Care project include the Centre for Telematics and Information Technology, IBM, UT Spin-off Company Mobihealth, TKH group and the care organizations IZIT and Orbis. Read more on how this original platform could provide care services for thousands of elderly.
Improvements on Quality of Semantic Standards
PhD Candidate Erwin Folmer received his Master's degree in Technical Business Administration and started working as a researcher and innovator in the private sector for KPN Research to help design order entry and billing systems for KPN service. In 2001, he joined TNO Information and Communication Technology to lead the European OpenXchange project, and in 2009 joined part time with the University of Twente to start his PhD research project, while continuing his work for TNO.
He explains the core of his research by means of the term "interoperability", meaning the ability of two entities to cooperate. In particular, he specialises in improving "semantic standards" or so-called business transaction standards. By better understanding "semantic interoperability" then in turn the cooperation between organisations is improved.
To illustrate, he gives an historical example: "Think only of the time in 1999 when the Mars Climate Orbiter crashed into the Red Planet. The cause of the crash was due to a navigation error and turned out to be semantic. NASA had calculated the height in metres, whereas the company had built the probe using feet." Folmer knows, "If two people want to communicate, the terms they use must have the same meaning to both of them."
In due time, he hopes to build an instrument or device which is capable of obtaining objective insights into all aspects of standard qualities. By the end of 2011, Folmer expects to see the fruits of his research labours and offer suggestions on how to raise the level of today's current standards.
In his role as a standardization expert, he is also part of the project team of Netherlands Open in Connection, the Dutch government programme to improve adoption of open standards and open source software. Learn more on his scientific research on his website semanticstandards.org. or simply write a request to receive a free copy of his book publication titled State of the Art on Semantic IS Standards, Interoperability & Quality, here.