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Health technology is becoming a more mainstream part of healthcare in many parts of the world, and locally we have started to make headway in the use of electronic forms of healthcare access and delivery. There is a lot that can be done with technology in the healthcare sector, but when we think of health technology, we often think of the medical and other patient-care functions that technology can make more efficient and accessible.

The long wait for non-emergency healthcare, both privately and publicly, can be frustrating. Such is the extent of the problem that, some years ago, the Ministry of Health began to focus specific interventions on reducing waiting times at public-health facilities. Still, waiting time remains a problem, which I don’t believe we will be able to effectively tackle without the help of technology.

Jamaica began its hospital digitisation journey less than a decade ago with the University Hospital of the West Indies. At that time, they saw the economic and efficiency benefits of such a move. Increasingly, more hospitals worldwide have been on a similar journey, and the ones that have gone fully digital have been investing more to improve how they offer services to patients and other clients.

It may be time to start thinking about putting more robots and automation in our healthcare system. This is important and takes on even more relevance with the current pandemic and the levels and rate of infection of COVID-19.

Jamaica is no stranger to electronic dispensing of prescriptions. The National Health Fund has put in place a Pharmacy Information Management System in their Drug Serv pharmacies, including those at several public hospitals across the island. The University of the West Indies is very far ahead in completely implementing their Hospital Information Management System and, within that, the pharmacy module, which is already in use and allows for the ability to digitally conduct all pharmacy-related activities from prescribing to dispensing and between that inventory and stock management.

Most medical office management systems include online patient scheduling, and with the increasing number of telemedicine platforms, soon this will become a preferred choice for patients.

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.

AS PEOPLE become more health conscious, there is a need to increase promotion of their involvement in their own care and give them the means by which to participate. The world has been steadily changing for the last three decades, becoming increasingly dependent on technology. I think I can safely say that in the last ten years, we have experienced an immense explosion of technological creativity and artistry. There is hardly any sector that has not been affected in a positive way by technology.

Despite the very commendable effort of the Ministry of Health to reduce waiting time at public hospitals, it is still a major issue. A staff member at my company related to me that she took her grandmother to Kingston Public Hospital from 7 a.m. on a Friday for an assessment and did not leave the facility until 9 p.m.

This poses several problems, one of which obviously has to do with productivity, as an entire day off from work was required to achieve this.

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.