Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are two technologies that are drastically changing the approach to healthcare management and delivery. These technologies were adopted from other sectors and have been successfully applied to hospital management, diagnosis, treatment and care across several health disciplines.
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.
The thought of having to go to a hospital, let alone a public one, would have many people opting to stay home as long as possible until their ailment turns into an emergency. In some ways, we face this reality here. There is a plethora of complaints – the waiting time is too long, customer service is not up to par, doctors are not available, dockets cannot be found, difficulty in finding beds or the tier system for triaging may not be efficient or effective enough.
Implantable devices are not a new concept in healthcare. For decades, people have been kept alive by devices like pacemakers that assist the heart to function, for example, and orthopaedic devices that assist in fusing bones and joints displaced through injury. However, recent developments in the technology sphere have led to the increase and improvement in the types of implantable devices available in healthcare and generally.
The world over is dealing with the issue of ageing populations where the number of persons over 55 is steadily increasing while the number of children born to families reduces.
More persons are deciding to have one child or, maximum, two. Jamaica’s birthrate, for example, is approximately 2.01 per family while people are living longer due to advances in technology and improved health services. Living longer, however, does not necessarily equate to living healthier or having a better quality of life. Healthcare will be forced to catch up to this phenomenon.
BIOMARKERS HAVE long been used in healthcare as a diagnostic and treatment aid. In addition, biomarkers such as those used to determine the probability of disease presence or development based on deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) have been used as a means of taking preventive action, by predicting disease progression and possible response to treatment. In this way, a treatment model can be developed for the patient even before symptoms begin.
Leading IT solutions provider Advanced Integrated Systems (AIS) is optimistic that its new comprehensive e-commerce platform, Q-Mall, could open up the Caribbean for Jamaica's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
According to AIS, Q-Mall is the first comprehensive e-commerce platform specifically geared towards Jamaican and Caribbean vendors to provide worldwide reach.
Advanced Integrated Systems Limited, (AIS), a tech solution company formed by Douglas Hallsall some 30 years, is finalising plans for the soft launch of an e-commerce platform called Q-Mall next month.
The platform’s debut in October is expected to set the pitch for full roll out during the high shopping and festive season.
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.
