THE GLOBAL IMPACT OF TELEMATICS FOR HEALTH-CARE PROFESSIONALS

Telematics is an implementation tool of the global information society . All the constituents of society, as individuals or as groups, are in volved and within a few years, everybody should take into account this fourth revolution which follows the industrial revolution (revolution number three). In the health field, all are involved: citizens; patie nts; general practitioners; specialists; health-care (HC) local, regio nal and national authorities and managers; researchers etc. During the past two centuries, the paradigm was focused on HC matters, hospitals , HC professionals etc. Due to the financial impossibility of increasi ng the proportion of the Gross National Product (GNP) which is dedicat ed to HC and simultaneously offering the very best health possible to every citizen, we have to change the paradigm from HC to health, from patient to citizen, from hospital to home etc. Telematics could be the tool necessary to do this. These tools do exist now, taking into acco unt the European dimension, standardisation, interoperability, price, data-protection regulation etc. The assessment of the various services now available demonstrates their cost efficiency, in terms of time, m oney, quality, accessibility etc. But, for the moment, few user-groups , especially few HC professional groups, are fully convinced of the ne cessity to urgently integrate these tools, not only to cover citizens' needs, as demonstrated by the traditional way of working, but also to anticipate the implementation of the new health paradigm. It is a ser ious challenge because, if the HC professionals do not themselves mana ge this transient situation, they could find situations are imposed by external financial, administrative or other technical regulations. Th e two key necessities are: a global strategy, proposed by national aut horities with in-line resources, and an urgent plan, on a large scale, for education and training of the professionals concerned.