IT and Your Health

You hear so much bad news about big money and scarce resources being wasted on mega health projects that it's nice to get some good news about IT and your health. It's particularly nice if that good news affects your own life for the good.

To begin with, a good search engine now knows more and can tell you more than your doctor can, with whatever concerns you, either preventive or remedial. You are your own best doctor. So between you, your doctor and the Internet (and it might be a good idea to include God as well), you should be able to optimise your health situation.

And of course, not forgetting a healthy diet and exercise - on which you can also get the best advice through a good search engine. For example, it was on the internet that this writer discovered the amazing health benefits of sprouted seeds. They contain much needed enzymes to keep the stomach and digestion healthy, and are an organic, ever-fresh source of nutrients which are about 40 times more nutritious than ordinary, fresh vegetables.

But getting more specific on technology, if you have ever had to wait interminably for X-rays to be processed, or in some cases having them get lost, then the good news is that old-fashioned photos and use of snail-mail are going out.

Instead, some hospitals are now scanning the image straight into a central radiology database and making it instantly available across and between hospitals and consultants. Not only that, but because the images are available on high-resolution screens, it does make it easier to scrutinise the image and make a diagnosis.

Also, speech recognition is being added for the radiologist, so as to reduce writing, typing and transcription errors, and the time involved.

The x-ray images are input, along with any drawings made by the doctor, consultant or specialist, and get integrated into your electronic patient record.

In addition, with wireless networks, it means that bedside input & output to/from the patient record becomes feasible.

It means no more lost records, more reliable data, and much faster response to patient needs.

At least this is what it means in theory. The other factors, apart from the technology, are the people, process, organisation and management (PPOM) factors. These things, more than the technology itself, are the priority for getting things right in Health Care.

P.S.
Systems Thinking; treating everything as a system, within a system, within a system, is the key to getting PPOM right, and a future article will focus on Systems Thinking.