Telehealth National Project in the state of Ceará: experiences and reflections on the implementation of the center

Abstract

This article aims to present the experience of deployment of the Center for Telemedicine in the state of Ceará, one of the first nine centers established within the National Telehealth Program in a state in which there had already been a previous unsuccessful attempt to implement a telemedicine project. In the early implementation of the project currently in operation was essential to develop partnerships at all levels of health management within the state, facing difficulties related to Internet access, conducting an intense awareness of the aims of the project itself, conducting site visits of physical locations for deployment of the poles and training midlevel professionals who would work there. Several adjustments were necessary to achieve the goals set early in the project, aiming to deploy the 100 poles provided at each stage, to establish an ongoing program of weekly lectures on topics relevant to primary care, to provide the possibility of online and offline teleconsultation, to create a portal services that were integrated into the Brazilian Telemedicine Portal, besides keeping uninterrupted activities in telecardiology and teledermatology. It analyzes the main difficulties, especially those of technological and administrative nature, and their solutions. Comments are finally made on the current status achieved and the future prospects of development in the context of the state with regard to improvements in ICT and the convergence with other projects of the Ministry of Health, with emphasis on the Open University of SUS, UNA –SUS, newly created.