electronic

COVID-19 has shed light on the importance of having a connected health network to be able to more efficiently coordinate supplies and equipment across health sector facilities.

The difficulty in sourcing and distributing essential items and equipment that was experienced in some countries at the beginning of the spread of the virus was a call for a closer examination of the technology systems in health that can facilitate better information transfer and management.

The announcement that a vaccine for COVID-19 is ready is one that has brought much relief to many persons around the world. Vaccines have, for decades, been one of the best tools to prevent certain diseases.
Since Jamaica began its vaccine programme, the country has been successful in eliminating or significantly reducing the occurrence of certain vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccines work, and there is no doubt about that. We have made remarkable progress and our vaccine programme has consistently attained high percentages in terms of the number of persons who are vaccinated.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a new normal for many of us. Most people are simply not used to having to stay away from friends and loved ones as long as we have been during isolation and quarantine. Humans are, by nature, social creatures, so this is especially hard for a number of persons. I have seen more and more persons saying that they have been having feelings of anxiety and depression during this time.

Technology has been changing the way we do things in the healthcare industry for years. Every year there are more and more innovations intended to improve care as well as various processes. Digitised healthcare has proven to be tremendously beneficial for patients and healthcare providers. It has eliminated the barriers of time and space and allowed for increased access. Telemedicine is also poised to revolutionise care and will be central to the digital health revolution.

In the past few years, a number of telemedicine vendors have entered the local market. This is a good indication that we are moving forward and evolving to incorporate digital health into the healthcare ecosystem. We still have a little way to go but we are on the right track.

The electronic health record (EHR) offers a plethora of opportunities for digitised healthcare management. Imagine if there was a system where a doctor can get an alert to warn that a patient may be close to a life-threatening condition, giving him/her enough time to respond to save that patient before it is too late. With the increasing implementation of electronic systems, this no longer has to be imagined. It is possible today. Many healthcare organisations have been taking advantage of this feature in their electronic heath management systems.

I was once on site doing an initial tour of one of our prospective information technology (IT) implementations. We had just signed the contract and so decided to do a walk-through to have a more complete view of what to expect once we got started. Our initial walk-through had been done a little over a year before, so we wanted to know whether there had been any changes to what we saw then.

The opportunities for the development and use of technology in healthcare are vast. Knowing how to apply the technology to make hospitals a consumer-friendly and viable business is important. We are generally a population that is ‘technology suspicious’, and in some cases, downright afraid. This cannot stop us from making the required changes to improve healthcare generally, and the hospital experience, specifically, with technology. I often use the fact that I was told years ago that ATM machines would never work in Jamaica, but look where we are now.

The number of preventable deaths each year is staggering.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 7.8 million people die of hypertension, 5.4 million die from smoking tobacco, 3.8 million from malnutrition, 3 million from STDs, 2.5 million from overweight and obesity, 2.8 million from poor diet, 2 million from physical inactivity and 1.9 million from alcohol.

Interoperability is what makes an electronic system, well a system. Connectivity is critical in any healthcare environment.

Health technology increases the rate of connectivity and access generally, but within that there also needs to be further connectivity. Interoperability is a fundamental part of this ecosystem.