TACMIS: A Total Access Care and Medical Information System

Background, Aims and Focus

How can disabled and aged populations gain access to and benefit from information and communications technologies (ICT) through the development of inclusive design systems? This was the fundamental question asked when the program began in May 2000. It was initiated as a cross-national collaborative research and development program of the Centre for Global Education and Research (CGER) at Ritsumeikan University, and is currently being executed at the Discovery Research Laboratory (DRL) established within CGER to incubate projects that link ICT with human, social and environmental needs (Cassim, M., 2004). TACMIS is a project that aims to create exemplars for this form of interlinking in the field of health care. This chapter will focus on the inclusive design aspects of TACMIS.

The TACMIS system is a composite of three integrated subsystems:

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  HIMS: A Hospital Information Management System, which largely deals with the acute care phase and rehabilitation in a secondary care situation;

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  SEAHCSS: A Socio-Economic and Health Care Support System, which extends the findings of HIMS into primary care situations and into the aggregate realm of epidemiology and health care policy; and

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  PEECSS: A Patient Empowerment and Environmental Control Support System, which extends care into the home environment and supports independent living.

The development work carried out thus far focuses on HIMS and PEECSS, with SEAHCSS seen as likely to evolve as a natural extension through dialogue with stakeholders involved in health care policy formulation. The chapter describes the access technologies used for integrated and inclusive solutions to health informatics issues in general and for dealing with stroke disability in particular. The findings indicate that such solutions will enhance the quality of electronic patient and health records, enabling them to contribute directly to improvements in a patient’s individual care. They will also support a more enjoyable level of independent living for stroke victims with a residual disability, who are seen as a microcosm of the wider disabled and aged populations.