School CareWeb Project Syracuse, New York
Purposes
- meeting the needs of children with limited access to healthcare
resources
- empowering school nurses to effectively manage children's
health on a continual basis
- offering interactive and current health-education resources
for school nurses, nurse practitioners, nursing students, school
children, and parents
- providing the school district with database resources allowing
statistical analysis
- integrating primary care of school children with systems of
managed care
- linking healthcare to available social services that address
issues of home environment and other factors influencing children's
health
- establishing and maintaining strict confidentiality and data
security
Partners
- Syracuse City School District
- College of Nursing at Syracuse University
- Northeast Parallel Architectures Center (NPAC) at Syracuse
University
- Department of Pediatrics at State University of New York Health
Science Center at Syracuse
Components
- community database including Web pages for schools, nurses,
nurse practitioners, students, parents, and teachers
- student health record database
- information support for computerized decision making
- educational resources
- access to World Wide Web resources
Configuration
- based on Distributed Medical Intelligence scheme of the Institute
for Interventional Informatics
- "care portals" (school nurse office)
- "bridge" (intelligent switchboard at College of
Nursing and NPAC)
- "expert stations" (nurse practitioners and pediatricians)
Representative Scenario
- student visits school nurse's office complaining of sore throat.
- school nurse, using CareWeb technology, conducts focused assessment
for sore throat
- information is shared with nurse practitioner at bridge site
who then asks school nurse to obtain throat culture
- assessment data, medical diagnosis, and treatment plan are
recorded in student electronic health record
Technologies
- Netscape 2 Web browser
- Oracle database
- WOW/OWA (Oracle Web Agent) Internet gateway
- PL/SQL dynamic Web page generation
- multiframe Java/JavaScript graphical user interface
- hierarchical navigation model on top of relational database
Advantages
- uses pervasive, revolutionary Web technologies
- includes video conferencing capability
- allows video interface for medical instruments such as otoscopes
- includes interface capability for devices for disabled individuals
(communication, wheelchair control, computer control, virtual
reality, etc.) including mainstreamed students
- enables rapid prototyping and deployment
- offers reusable, scalable, and extensible technologies
- offers improved health outcomes at lower cost
- rapid progress of this project is based on excellent collaboration
among nursing and medical faculty, scientists, and technologists