Coordinated by RNP, the University Telemedicine Network brings together professionals spread across the country

With the increase in demand for efficient and affordable medical solutions for the population, telemedicine has become an important element of modern healthcare. In Brazil, RUTE (University Telemedicine Network), coordinated by RNP, is one of the main initiatives to improve the digital health infrastructure in university hospitals, teaching hospitals and health colleges.

With 18 years of existence, RUTE is made up of telemedicine and telehealth centers in university hospitals, teaching hospitals, medical schools and other health units throughout Brazil. Through Special Interest Groups (SIGs), professionals, professors, residents and students can meet for debates, case discussions, classes, research and remote assessments in different health specialties and subspecialties. These meetings take place monthly, with an average of 2 to 3 daily sessions at www.rute.rnp.br .

One of the main benefits is that it allows doctors and healthcare professionals from regions far from major centers to have access to specialists and environments for exchanging ideas. Patients also benefit, as the network allows for remote discussion of diagnoses and facilitates requests for second opinions. 

“RUTE is a collaborative network. Every day, we have case discussion sessions with specialists from 140 university hospitals and health schools, and most of these sessions are open to the public. Every student, resident and health professional can participate”, explains Luiz Ary Messina, health relationship manager at RNP and national coordinator of RUTE.

The beginning

Since its creation, RUTE has grown rapidly, integrating new institutions and promoting the creation of telemedicine centers throughout Brazil, until it reached what it is today. Currently, the network has 37 active SIGs that discuss various topics, such as dental education, health economics, clinical nutrition, among others.

RUTE’s origins date back to 2004, when the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) conceived of a Brazilian telemedicine network to modernize healthcare in the country. At the time, Messina, who played an essential role in the creation and development of the network, was coordinating a remote medicine project through the @lis program between the European Union and Latin America and was consulted about the potential of the initiative. The invitation from RNP to coordinate the initiative came in 2005.

“After returning from Germany, I realized that hospitals were lagging behind in hospital management programs. I started developing an integrated management system that was very successful. With that, I had to understand what hospital management was like in practice”, said the national coordinator of RUTE during his participation in a webinar promoted by the Academic League of Digital Health, of the Federal University of Piauí.

Another important factor in the advancement of telemedicine in the country was the COVID-19 pandemic. With social isolation, managers and health professionals who had some resistance to this practice had to adapt to the new scenario.

“Many healthcare professionals did not want to accept telemedicine and telehealth”, Messina points out. “With the pandemic, it became clear that telemedicine is something definitive and that it is here to stay. The entire world had to adapt to this new remote practice”, he adds.

With the aim of stimulating studies that promote transformations in the area, MCTI launched the Priority Program of National Interest in Digital Health (PPI-SD) in 2021. Coordinated by RNP, the program aims to develop research projects in digital health.

“The PPI-SD resource comes from companies through the Computer Law and will be applied to digital health research projects. We hope to start this major program in the second half of the year, which will include RUTE units”, Messina highlights.