One important asset in and contribution to the health care field is the California Telehealth Network (CTN). Led by CITRIS researchers at the UC Davis Medical Center, the CTN is a groundbreaking statewide ‘medical grade’ network that will link 863 sites throughout California hospitals, teaching and research institutions, clinics, and other providers for patient care and research using telehealth technology.
The CTN addresses a primary challenge for healthcare in California how to provide high quality, statewide access to a variety of clinical services, particularly those that are delivered by scarce clinical experts. It also provides an important research ‘test bed’ for the development and deployment of new services, allowing scientists and clinicians to collaborate on new technology andservice ideas which in turn can be delivered over the network.
The CTN will host a wide range of clinical and research activities. All four CITRIS campuses will have active links to the CTN, allowing local researchers to build and test supportive technologies and actively collaborate with clinicians across the state. A recent CITRIS meeting for engineers and clinicians, known as SCHEME III, focused on the state of current activity as well as new opportunities in sensors; point of care diagnostics; imaging and robotics; virtual reality; and simulation.
