BURNET - Interconnection of Mediterranean Burns Centres - 107

Eumedis Project number: 107

EC Project code: 107

Contract "signature" date: 2002-05-08

Planned start date: 2002-07-01

Planned duration: 48 months

Planned end date: 2006-06-30

Actual start date: 2002-07-01

Total Budget: 2.062.500,00 ?

EC Contribution: 

1.650.000,00 €

Sector: Healthcare networks

Background: 

BURNET deals with burns. It aims to interconnect the Mediterranean Burns Centres (BCs) through an information network both to standardize courses of action in the field of prevention, treatment and functional and psychological rehabilitation of burn patients and to coordinate interactions between BCs and emergency rooms in peripheral hospitals using training/information activities to optimize first aid provided to burn patients before referral to a BCs. Shared procedure protocols for the prevention, care and rehabilitation of patients, both at individual and mass level, will help to create an international specialized database and a web-based tele-consultation system.
A web portal will be developed with the aim of interconnecting and involving all health-care providers and emergency workers involved in rescuing burn victims, transferring them or giving their contribution to fighting against fire disasters, when they often come into contact with burn victims. Some pages of the BURNET web portal will be specially designed for these people, with discussion groups, mailing lists, and the opportunity to publish articles and personal experiences, and online training courses.
In the event of mass burns, the network will make it possible to coordinate emergency actions between the various BCs and between the Centres, peripheral hospitals, and similar operational units, with the aim of optimizing the procedures to be implemented at the various stages of disaster management.

Objectives: 

Overall Objectives
* To reduce the number of burn accidents;
* To reduce the number of deaths of burn patients;
* To reduce the number of patients functionally and psychologically invalidated due to burn injuries;
* To reduce suffering and harm of people involved in fire disasters.

Specific Objectives
* To improve considerably the care and emergency capabilities of health-care and other personnel in each of the countries involved in the project;
* To stimulate the growth of social awareness in the field of ire prevention and first aid.

Description: 

As the proper implementation of the BURNET project requires that actions be taken at different levels, BURNET has been divided into several work packages (WP). The work plan starts with the phase of Project Management (WPO): in which the coordination groups will establish and conclude the agreements with all the partners, will organize the work and the relations between the technological and the Scientific Partners and will decide the management and the real-time monitoring of all steps of the project. The exchange of information and suggestions is particularly useful for the establishment of a closer cooperation between professionals who perform similar activities - albeit in different situations - and want to implement a long-lasting project.
The first operational phases (WP 1, WP2, and WP3) will be based on the study and the development of the hardware and software architecture aimed at establishing a network of all Mediterranean Burn Centres (BCs) through IT connections which will facilitate contacts and the exchange of different experiences. These tools will enable the scientific community operating in the field of bum treatment to mutually enrich their knowledge and enhance their skills and capabilities. These technological activities will be based on the analysis of the scientific contribution made by the BCs involved in the project and will help define and develop information tools such as a "technological kit" (Internet-connected PC with clinical data acquisition and input devices), which will be used by all the BCs, a web portal and a tool for the on-line collection of burned patient: a Data Collection Tool (DCT) to use as a computer Data Base of medical records. The scientific partners will thus have an easy, low-cost tool to communicate with each other and initiate web-based diagnostic procedures. They will follow a training course on how to use the DCT supplied by the technological partners, so as to be able to create an archive of burn patient records to be used also for statistical and epidemiological purposes. The purpose is the scientific growth of the health-care sector. The implementation of the BURNET network, using such a simple, popular and inexpensive tool as the Internet, makes this exchange eyen more feasible and enhances its effectiveness.
The technological features of the web portal will be updated, modified and enhanced. Efforts will be made to enrich on a regular basis the scientific content of the web portal and the research done within the framework of the BURNET project. The purpose of the web portal expansion will also be to adjust it according to the various needs and proposals of the people involved in the field of bum care (doctors, emergency workers, paramedical staff, voluntary workers, teachers, etc.) Moreover, further modification to the DCT or to the portal could be made on the basis of new epidemiological studies which would for example require the collection of new data.
The creation of a specialized web portal and a database for tele-consultation (WP4) will enable health-care providers, emergency corps, bum centre staff and others to have access to the most recent updates in the field, improving their knowledge in order to tackle more effectively the problems of bum victims, who are the ultimate beneficiaries of the project. In addition, the DCT will prove a valid statistical tool to be used in the standardization or data analysis and treatment protocols of the various Centres. The BURNET web portal will include several pages dedicated to involvement of all people who give their contribution to fighting against bums and fire disasters and come often into contact with burn victims (e.g. firemen, voluntary workers, first-aid stations and emergency rooms persons, hospitals lacking a bum unit, law enforcement agencies, paramedical staff, general practitioners, etc.). In these pages they can find spaces for discussion and contacts and specialized on-line training courses. The on-line courses (WP5) aim at broadening the knowledge and improving the skills of healthcare providers and emergency workers. The training modules, agreed upon by all partners, will be put on line, in pages targeted at various professionals. The on-line training has also an indirect goal, which is to promote and foster the use and the knowledge of new IT-based methodologies, especially in countries and organizations that have not yet taken full advantage of them.
Public awareness campaigns (WP6) will be launched to disseminate the results of the project and also to inform the population about issues related to burn accidents and fire disasters. The purpose of the campaigns, which will be mainly conducted in schools and will include the distribution of teaching and informative materials, is to make the public aware of the importance of fire prevention and to provide training in basic first aid in case of bum accidents. This purpose, there will be wide dissemination of the activities and results of the BURNET project. The use of media that publish common medical protocols in specialized periodicals will give even more prominence to the partnership created by the BURNET pilot project and its activities, with the ultimate aim of stimulating public interest and encouraging other organizations, not necessarily operating in the health-care sector, to join the project, thus ensuring the sustainability of the project itself.
The organization of Work Meetings and Conferences will give added value to the goals of the project, enhancing its appeal to the public through the media.

Results: 

1. Standardisation of therapeutical protocols of patients admitted in the Burn Centres of the different countries (exchange of know-how and creation of common methodological protocols).

2. Development of common protocols on the most suitable technical and surgical methodologies. Physio kinesi therapeutical procedures and psychological support to be made available during the acute stage of the disease or even later to reduce its most disabling outcomes (exchange of know-how and creation of common methodological protocols).

3. New information and educational tools to be used in the different countries at different levels, with the aim of preventing burn accidents (know-how transfer and training).

4. Analysis of different risks of fire disaster in the countries participating in the project with the aim of devising health emergency plans for first aid to mass burn victims (transfer of know-how).

5. Adoption of the best practices and research of new techniques and methodologies to achieve a higher degree of effectiveness in first aid of fire disasters (creation of common methodological protocols).

6. Dissemination, through the Web and through as many media as possible, of useful knowledge to all the people actively involved in the sector of fire disasters prevention, including ordinary citizens (transfer of know-how and training).

Project Management: 

The coordination group and the subgroups dealing with the management of single activities shall be organized as follows:
Project Office
• 1 Project Leader: The head of the Project Office will supervise the BURNET project from beginning to end, providing the necessary guidelines and contributions;
• 4 Sub Project Leaders in the following roles:
1 Scientific Project Leader/SPL (MBC) will supervise all the tasks and activities performed by the Scientific Partners, and will coordinate the contacts with each Burn Centre participating in the project. The SPL will preside over the Scientific Committee;
1 Technological Infrastructure Leader/TIL (SISPI) will coordinate and supervise tasks related to technological implementation, will also be responsible for maintaining contact with BCs staff with regards to functional analyses of technical equipment;
1 Content and Application Leader/CAL, (INFORMED Italia) will coordinate and supervise tasks related to technological implementation, to functional analyses of technical equipment.
1 Financial Project Leader/FPL (MBC) will supervise all tasks and activities related to EC funding;
• 2 Project management and monitoring coordinators
• 1 Assistant
• 3 Scientific Coordinators
• 1 Auditor

Web site: http://www.burnet.org/

Project Coordinator: Michele, MASELLIS (more details ...)

Project Manager: Giuseppe, Perricone (more details ...)

Leading partner

Italy

Mediterranean Council for Burns and Fire Disasters [http://www.medbc.com/]

Participating Partners