electronic

The issue of medical records was once again thrust into the spotlight with a recent Supreme Court decision which ordered that parents be given access to their baby's health records within 24 hours.

The hospital had refused to hand them over. Since then, the question is still up in the air as to who owns medical records, prompting Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton to seek an opinion from the attorney general.

The condition in which people are born, grow up, live, work, and age may invariably affect their state of health and well-being as well as impact their health decisions.

These are referred to as social determinants of health and include income level, social status, education, employment and working conditions, housing, healthcare access, personal health practices, transportation and nutrition.

Important strides have been made in health sectors worldwide to move forward with achieving a complete digital ecosystem with electronic medical records (EMR) central to this.

Jamaicans are highly suspicious of technology, especially those that require the sharing of personal information. I was recently privy to a discussion among doctors and they were of the view that there should be great concern if EMR is implemented in government health facilities as too many people would be able to access individuals' health records.

Electronic prescribing is much more than it appears. While the basic definition speaks to the technology framework that allows doctors and other prescribers to electronically write and transmit prescriptions to patients and pharmacies, the system as a whole can achieve much more. One general benefit of e-prescription is that it assists with eliminating prescription errors in several ways, but importantly, it can be used as part of a system of medication management.

The proposed National Identification System (NIDS) has been the source of contentious debate for the last few weeks.

Jamaica is actually late in the game in providing some sort of system of this type to ensure a proper database of its citizens, which will improve the country's ability to put in place effective structures and programmes that will adequately capture the needs of the population.

The United States, for example, can track and manage its welfare services through the social-security number issued to every citizen at birth and kept until death.

There is no doubt that the world is changing dramatically, and Jamaica is not being left behind.  Gone are the days when you have to stand in line at a store to purchase goods and acquire services.  Jamaicans are now living in a technologically advanced world where we can do anything and go anywhere without changing our physical location.  We now speak about life as if we are on an assembly line where efficiency is paramount and saving time and money crucial. This transformation is also taking place in the health care industry.  Telemedicine is set to take off globally and will allow us to access health care anyplace, anytime.