Search

The SARS-CoV-2 health emergency has demonstrated the need for developing structured telemedicine systems to protect citizens from the spread of the virus. Thereby, their importance and the necessity to tailor their diffusion at large scale for providing services both at a distance and in time has been shown. For these reasons, the European Union advocates the digital transition of health systems for the next 5 years. The main aim of this work is to revisit the telemedicine research projects financed by European Community during the period 2000-2020 with particular respect to the results derived from their application. The analysis showed that some integration of tele-care and tele-health could be obtained with tele-monitoring systems and the implementation of Electronic Personal Record (EPR). Furthermore, telemedicine allows enhancing health care in critical environments, to protect health and life of the most vulnerable patients, and to encourage cross-border dialogue. The criteria of "from distance" and "timely delivered" are granted, but the effectiveness of the overall offered services highly depends on the availability and the quality of the input data. Unfortunately, this remains a relevant problem in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Paleari, Malini, Paoli, Scillieri, Bighin, Blobel and Giacomini.)

The current Covid-19 pandemic makes necessary to identify people affected by SARS-CoV-2. To do this, the most reliable method is the use of the molecular test that is the gold standard to detect positive peoples.Here, we provide a comprehensive review on the diagnostic processes through molecular tests for SARS-CoV-2 infection. First, we have obtained information about the testing technologies in the Liguria region's hospitals to find and describe the most common technologies used and to calculate the molecular test's average cost. Second, we have evaluated the sensitivity, the specificity, the safety with respect to the data reported on scientific literature (Real Word Data VS Registrative Studies) and the organizational aspects of the molecular tests.Clinical Relevance- This study aims to provide support to the decision makers on clinical, economic, organizational, social and ethical issues related to the use of molecular test for SARS-CoV-2.

In hospital management, health technology assessment techniques are being increasingly developed. This paper presents a comparison of the results obtained using two models for replacement priority value calculation applied to the Galliera hospital in Genoa (Italy). One the models was developed at the Galliera Hospital along the lines of the model by Fennigkoh and addresses four primary replacement issues: equipment service and support, equipment function, cost benefits and clinical efficacy, by a "yes-no" scheme. This model is compared with a model based on fuzzy logic. The comparison between the two models shows a conservative behaviour by the Galliera model, according to which 77.4% of the analysed instrumentation is maintained, whereas the classification by the fuzzy model allows for a better discrimination among the devices.