ECHO Tool

The ECHO webtool is the main aim of the project and it is currently under development. Below you will find a description of how it is being prepared and how we intend it to be used. When it is finished, there will be a link on this page allowing research scientists and health policy makers to use it.

The ECHO Project will process data from several countries in the EU. This means data about all admissions, treatments and discharges of patients. However, only anonymous patient data will be processed, so that no individual can be identified. Ultimately, also, only summary data will be presented.

Data from each country are stored in different coding systems. A major task is to standardise the data so that they can be fairly compared side-by-side. This process of starting with a mix and slowly standardising is where the ECHO logo comes from.

Once the data have been standardised, they can be stored together in one large database. An interface (program) can then be written which sits on the top of the database and mines it to return useful summary data about trends over time or differences between countries.

The interface will be accessible no only in location of the database - but to research scientists and policy makers via a website that allows them to call the program and command it to do analysis of interest. This online analysis tool which is scheduled to be operational in 2013 can then dynamically return maps, tables and graphs according to tailored queries.

The interface will not only be a proof-of-principle, but will be of practical use to research scientists and health policymakers; allowing major key questions to be resolved at a glance, rather than needing to establish new projects to answer such questions.

Please click next to read more about the development of the webtool.