Asclepieion Park of Athens ^[1]

A Study Commissioned by the Greek General Secretariat of Research and Technology

Delivered on September 5, 2000-10-24

Summary 

The main scope of the Study entitled ‘Asclepieion Park of Athens’ is to contribute to the formulation of a design methodology of a modern digital site, which could be eventually used as a prototype to design ‘Modern Asclepieions’.

 The Study covers the requirements for immediate application to the site of the ‘Asclepieion Park of Athens’, as it was described in the study’s open procurement.

The development of a Digital Site, requires the design and the pilot application of an advanced telematic network of high standards, in agreement with the European views as they are described in the Information Society concepts. The telematic network is designed to cover the communication needs assuming heavy loads, the co-ordination and the collaboration of all units providing health and cultural services, to facilitate the educational services of various levels, to cover the needs for managing the entire spectrum of the activities to be developed inside a Modern Asclepieion and facilitate the quality control of the services.

The University of Athens won the contract. The work started in July 1999 and was completed in 14 months, as requested.  All activities were completed as scheduled.

The design of the Telematic Network was based on requirements described by the hospital units operated within the ‘Asclepieion Park of Athens’. The services of Health and Culture that can be supported by the telematic network were selected by analysing the views of a number of experts, as it was requested by the Contract. All services were designed by a specially developed methodology.

When the initial design of the Health Services was completed, questionnaires were constructed and used subsequently in order to extract the requirements of users of health services, in an effort to ascertain whether the design was successful or not.  The results provided ample evidence for the soundness of the design.

Taking into consideration the innovative nature of the Modern Asclepieion concepts, and the way the design of the services was approached, the Research Team (RT) decided to make publicly available every part of the Study as they were produced. The ‘publication’ of the reports was made electronically at the Web pages of the Project at http://asclepieion.mpl.uoa.gr. The site contained additional information reflecting the progress of the entire effort.

Independent scientists and especially physicians requested evaluation of the designed services, seeking to reveal weak points either in the methodology and/or the initial design of the services. This procedure was not a contractual obligation, but it was deemed necessary in order to secure the quality of the design. The reports were made available to the external auditors by conventional or electronic means (via the Project’s Web pages).

Along the same lines, the Web sites of the University of Athens (www.uoa.gr) and the Athens Medical Society (www.mednet.gr) have published the invitation by the RT to scientists and every other interested person to study the electronically published reports and to comment on them and to make known thir views to the RT. The electronic publication started on January 20 and lasted up to end of September 2000. The entire procedure of the electronic publication of the reports did not yield the expected results form the point of view of the number of the participated scientists.

The intermediate results of the Study, were presented in the 3^rd Workshop on ‘Modern Asclepieions: Health <-> Culture’. The aim of the workshop was to further promote the concept of Modern Asclepieions. The Workshop was sponsored by the Athens Medical Society and took place in Athens on May 17, 2000, in the context of the 26^th Pan Hellenic Medical Conference (May 16-20, 2000). The Workshop was described by all as successful.

Both the Workshop and the electronic publication of the initial reports of the Study revealed that no issues were raised able to indicate that a departure from the adopted approaches and solutions were necessary.

The main results of the Study are summarised as follows: 

1. the Telematic network consists of a fundamental factor for the creation of a Modern Asclepieion. It is also of vital importance for the improvement of the health medical services and n particular the medical ones inside the ‘Asclepieion Park of Athens’
   

2. the cost of the development of this type of networks is reasonable in levels indicating that their immediate realisation is desirable
   

3. the telematic network of the School of Medicine of the University of Athens, expected to be operational within the year, can be used as a pilot network for the ‘Asclepieion Park of Athens’. Its extension to link the 12 University Clinics operating within the Park, needs little additional funds and is proposed to be implemented without delay
   

4. the need for providing services to support the citizens’ efforts for better Health is great and urgent. The telematic technologies can contribute decisively in this direction. The health services will be offered in selected points within the Modern Asclepieion (in the next few years the provision of these services will be made, with the help of  new generation of devises, available to any point where the citizen will be
   

5. the development of the Health services can be made with very reasonable funding, but the collaboration with scientific institutions is indispensable, as far as the content is concerned. The development of the services and their provision to the citizens can be made gradually. The pilot applications for the ‘Asclepieion Park of Athens’ can be adopted for a series of Modern Asclepieions, that will be created in selected sites in the country  
   

6. the concept of Modern Asclepieions views Health in the context of Culture. Subsequently the need to develop services for Culture is becoming obvious and urgent
   

7. services for Culture can be developed relatively easily, with the support of up to date telematic technologies. Culture can be used as a development vehicle, provided that it is put in a modern context. The new technologies facilitate new forms of expression and creation. As in the case of the health services it is necessary to foster collaboration with scientific institutions for the development of their content
   

8. after the publication of the Public Law 2742 of 1999, a suitable legal framework exists for the creation of the ‘Asclepieion Park of Athens’ and other Modern Asclepieions
   

The entire logic of the effort to design and implement health services in the context of Culture with the support of the new telematic technologies is demonstrated in the specific electronic pages , that were created as a simulation of the Portal of the ‘Asclepieion Park of Athens’. The portal contains themes of health and culture.