A Novel Collaborative Grid Framework for Distributed Healthcare

The increasing ageing population around the world presents an unprecedented challenge in developing economically viable healthcare systems for our societies. To overcome this challenge and maintain a decent level of healthcare, further innovation and deployment of information technologies in the field of healthcare are the keys. Our earlier work puts forward "An Active Grid Infrastructure for Elderly Care" solution whereby elderly people are monitored non-intrusively to provide essential health information about them; the information concerning their condition is kept in an "active" health record; and resources involved in the system can be shared by multiple caregivers or organizations allowing them to collaborate in developing relevant care programs for these elderly persons. This paper focuses on the design of the collaborative component of the solution. A framework is proposed for an integrated Grid system that supports collaborative task planning and workflow development. The system will enable healthcare professionals to access the necessary resources, collaborate with each other to develop and execute treatment workflows in a user-friendly and intuitive manner. The paper will discuss the requirements and design principles for key components of the system and present its preliminary implementation.