Internet videoconferencing is a simple and economical tool that is increasingly used by Argentine healthcare professionals and professors.

Wormhole Web Conference (WWC) is a professional platform designed for communications, training, business meetings and broadcasting live events among participants in different locations across the globe. It runs fully on Internet and it is possible to take an aula magna or a medical conference anyplace in the world without altering the dynamics of the meeting. Even renowned institutions like the Universidad de Buenos Aires and the Hospital de Clínicas are utilizing the platform.

Wormhole IT is a company that has created the most popular in Latin America. It has won many awards and received the support of Argentina’s Ministry of Education in 2007 as a project designed by young professionals. The company is currently expanding across the world and is committed to revolutionizing the way people work, learn and communicate via Internet.

Doctor and professor Roberto Soto, the Secretary of Technology at UBA’s prestigious School of Medicine, shares his experiences:

-What are the benefits of videoconferencing for academic life at the university level?

First of all, it is important to distinguish between the benefits at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In both cases, videoconferencing can play an important role in disseminating preventative healthcare techniques and therapeutics. It is extremely helpful to be able to see a renowned professional—either from Argentina or abroad—working in his or her own environment, with all of the tools that he or she uses on a daily basis. It is also very useful for graduates who are working on their thesis abroad and must present regular reports for the university or meet with their thesis director.

-How do you feel about using this type of technology for accessing information in a university setting and for professional training?

Sharing knowledge in real time is extremely important for academia, especially when it involves eliminating geographical distances and dealing with the size limits of places such as auditoriums. As an educational institution that services the country, the Universidad de Buenos Aires should be able to accommodate as many students as possible in its classrooms. In developed nations, 15% of the workforce has a university degree, while in the case of Argentina, the percentage falls to 4%. We should thus increase the number of students at the university, and in this case, we can do so through digital technology, which allows us to absorb the increase via virtual communication. This application allows us to reach students who didn't used to have the chance to access contents at the academic level. It’s an excellent way to provide equal opportunity among the professionals of the future.

The platform created by Wormhole IT allows changes to the way information is accessed. Wormhole’s online videoconferencing platform has received awards by several international entities and companies, including Microsoft “No special equipment is needed and the product runs on any PC with an Internet connection. This methodology can be used for a regular class or to give a presentation for 500 participants,”, explains Ignacio López,one of Wormhole’s four partners and the Director of Research and Development at the firm.

The Chief of Technical Implementations at UBA’s School of Medicine, Martín Ferreira, recounts that “I had been using video-teleconferencing via ISDN and other out-of-date techniques for some time. Unfortunately, these systems were impractical because they required all participants to have the same equipment at all access points, and this was very expensive. In addition, three phone lines were needed to send and receive audio and video, making it hard to organize and coordinate virtual meetings with these obsolete technologies. After trying Wormhole’s platform, I thought it would be an excellent addition to the services at the Virtual School of Medicine. The goal is to provide remote access to information across Argentina, minimizing time and costs and creating a video library of each experience so that other students can view them in the future. Within the school itself, the tool will be used in several ways. First, teleconferences can be given at the aula magna and broadcast to the hospital units and to other medical and educational centers anywhere in the world to add a new form of communication for teachers and students of the virtual graduate courses we offer on the website. More than 10,000 users will benefit, including students, teachers and administrative personnel”.

With an average cost of $100 per month, Wormhole’s easy-to-use videoconferencing tool can help you train, hold business meetings or broadcast live events: “The institution or company doesn’t need to have any technical personnel to use the tool. Any Internet user can use the videoconferencing tool online and in real time. It’s quick and easy and it doesn’t require any software. Finally, it adapts to the user’s language,”, explainsSally Buberman, a partner of Wormhole IT and the Product and Marketing Director.

Seeing More Clearly

Dr. Pablo Chiaradía, Chief of the Ophthalmology at the Hospital de Clínicas of UBA’s School of Medicine says that “Up until now, all of our medical conferences were face-to-face but with online videoconferencing, we can create an e-learning platform to make these conferences even richer and involve other hospital centers and universities as well”.

Wormhole IT’s online videoconferencing toolallows audio and video contents to be broadcast from any computer with a click of the mouse: “We use it with doctors who are completing their residency, teachers and other professionals outside the school. This e-learning platform can be used on up to 60 terminals regardless of their location and at each terminal, there can be twenty or thirty doctors viewing the same contents. This has been enriching for us because it has allowed us to improve our presentations. However, it is also an extremely useful educational tool since it has allowed us to hold videoconferences with leading ophthalmological surgeons from across the world, for example, from Columbia University in New York. We can thus see leading ophthalmologists right in our classroom. This allows us to create an exchange and receive information from these professionals. In addition, the centers where people are participating in real time can ask questions using the chat function. This is an extremely useful tool. Doctors from remote locations in Argentina and other countries in the region like Bolivia and Chile—and even in the south of Spain—can see what we are doing online and in real time, and we can also see what they are doing. The growth we have experienced thanks to this application has been extraordinary”, adds Dr. Chiaradía.

“The tools vary depending on their purpose. When used for education, profiles can be created for students, professors, authorities, etc. A virtual classroom is shared with a common document and students cane raise their hand—just like in a regular class—by clicking the mouse. In the corporate version, the images can be seen on different cameras, and participants can view live events with high-quality imagining via Internet”, explains Maximiliano Menasches, a partner and Sales and Projects Director.

More information:

www.webconf.me