DISTRIBUTED MULTIMEDIA MEDICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS

WE WILL DEVELOP A MULTIMEDIA MEDICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTED REAL-TIME CONSULTATION.THE SYSTEM WILL BE COMPOSED OF OBJECTS CAPABLE OF CONTAINING STRUCTURED TEXT, IMAGES AND SOUND. TOOLS TO RETRIEVE AND MODIFY THESE OBJECTS ANYWHERE OVER A NETWORK WILL BE PROVIDED. IN PHASE I, WE WILL USE OBJECT-ORIENTED TECHNIQUES TO DEVELOP A PROTOTYPICAL SYSTEM QUICKLY. WE WILL DO THIS BY USING COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE OBJECT DATABASE AND MULTIMEDIA CAPABLE WORK- STATION. WE WILL PROVE OUR RESEARCH CONCEPT AND USE IT AS A VEHICLE FOR INNOVATION IN MULTI- MEDIA INTERACTION AND DISTRIBUTED REAL-TIME ACCESS. IN PHASE II, WE PLAN TO COMMERCIALIZE THE EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM FROM PHASE I. WE WILL IMPROVE THE TOOLS, ADD DOCUMENTATION AND INSTALL THESYSTEM IN SELECT BETA SITES. LATER WE WILL FORMULATE AND EXECUTE A MARKETING PLAN, AND DEVELOP INTERFACES TO EXISTING MEDICAL SYSTEMS. USING AN OBJECT ARCHITECTURE WILL RESULT IN A SUPERIOR SYSTEM, BECAUSE OF THE EASE OF DEVELOPING TOOLS, FASTER PERFORMANCE FOR MULTIMEDIA OBJECTS AND THE EASE OF CUSTOMIZATION FOR VARIOUS HEALTH CARE FACILITIES.