It is called Tuscany Health Ecosystem (abbreviated as THE) and translates as Tuscany Health Ecosystem. It is an innovation project financed by the PNRR, coordinated and managed by the Universities of Florence, Pisa and Siena, the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, the Scuola Normale Superiore, the Scuola Alti Studi Lucca, the University for Foreigners of Siena, from the Italian Institute of Technology, from the Cnr, from Toscana Life Sciences, from the National Institute of Nuclear Physics and from Confindustria Toscana.
THE activities are divided into ten research sectors. The Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa, led by Sabina Nuti, is the leading entity in the Population Health sector which aims to promote a new approach to the needs of citizens of the internal and peripheral areas of Tuscany, through the experimentation of innovative models and technologies.
Like, for example, the project that specifically affects the Island of Elba: creating an infrastructure for telemedicine services.
“The Internal Medicine Unit of Portoferraio – explains the director Riccardo Cecchetti – has a crucial role in the clinical-care pathways, both for the management of acute pathologies requiring hospitalization and for the management of chronic pathologies, such as pneumological ones, the heart failure and systemic autoimmune inflammatory rheumatological diseases”.
«The THE project – explains Fabio Chetoni, director of the Elba District Area, includes the Chronic Care Telemedicine program, for the management and monitoring of chronic patients through telemedicine. To experiment with innovative solutions in this field, the Proximity Pneumology Network activated on the island by the UOS for early management and management of respiratory failure, of which Guido Vagheggini is responsible, established within the Internal Medicine of the Portoferraio hospital, was chosen.” .
«The pneumological network developed on the island of Elba is made up of two local clinics – says Vagheggini – one in Porto Azzurro for residents in the municipalities of Porto Azzurro, Capoliveri, Rio Marina and Rio nell’Elba. The other in Marina di Campo for the residents of Campo nell’Elba, Marciana, Marciana Marina. They are clinics integrated with the pneumology clinic of the Portoferraio Respiratory Insufficiency unit and which shorten the distances between doctors and patients and improve access to care for cardiorespiratory diseases, so as to reduce the need for hospital admissions. Chronic respiratory diseases, in fact, have a long, often unpredictable course, punctuated by critical events that often require hospitalization and which can lead to a serious impairment of autonomy. They therefore have a great impact on social and health services and on the quality of life of patients and their families.”
«Thanks to the THE project, high-tech stations will be created in these structures to carry out second-level diagnostic services and specialist teleconsultation – adds Vagheggini – with the collaboration of Elban general practitioners, patients suffering from chronic cardiorespiratory diseases will be able to included in telemonitoring programs to prevent worsening or exacerbations of their pathology”.
The team of professionals who, together with Vagheggini, will collaborate on the project is made up of hospital specialists such as Liborio Sardo and Claudia Meschi, general practitioners and primary care doctors such as Ornella Fabozzi, Amerigo Mattera, and nurses who work in the polyclinics, such as Lucia Giardelli, Paola Galeazzi, Alessandra Mancusi, Alina Barnea, Raffaele Marucci, Alessandra Marzocchella, Giovanni Francesconi.
«We are talking about the possibility of remotely and safely monitoring patients suffering from chronic pneumological pathologies – specifies Riccardo Cecchetti, director of Internal Medicine at the Portoferraio hospital – with a project carried out in close collaboration with the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and which represents the first step of a broader application of telemedicine in other areas, such as venous thromboembolism, heart failure, pulmonary embolism and systemic autoimmune inflammatory rheumatological diseases.”
«We want to identify the telemonitoring models and connectivity techniques most suitable for this purpose – explains Professor Alberto Giannoni, coordinator of the THE project for the Sant’Anna School on the Island of Elba – and develop the necessary technologies. This is why a local medical record was created linked to the medical records of the outpatient clinics and hospital departments, which will allow the sharing of information between all professionals.”
«A study will also be conducted to develop artificial intelligence algorithms for the analysis of clinical data – adds Professor Claudio Passino, THE responsible for the development of telemedicine in remote areas of Tuscany – so as to support the activity of doctors».
«In a context like that of the Island of Elba – says Amerigo Mattera – the synergy between specialists and general practitioners is fundamental to develop shared diagnosis and territorial management paths. The use of new technologies will facilitate the integration of care in the local and hospital context, with a great advantage for patients, who will be able to receive highly specialized care directly in their own living environment.”
The clinical trial “Sustainable implementation of telemedicine in internal areas” was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Vast North West Area and authorized by the general management of the Local Health Authority of Tuscany North West.
