ICT; Roles in Healthcare.ICT; Roles in Healthcare.

Peter Manuthu,Peter Manuthu,Administrator, KNH Medical Resource Center in partnership with LAdministrator, KNH Medical Resource Center in partnership with Lords ords Healthcare LtdHealthcare Ltd

"We have the most inefficient health care system imaginable. We're still using paper. Nurses can't read the prescriptions that doctors have written

out. Why wouldn't we want to put that on an electronic medical record that will reduce error

rates, reduce our long-term costs of health care, and create jobs right now?"

- US President Barack Obama, February 9, 2009

Pillars of Health Industry

Chemistry

ICT

Physics

OverviewOverview

• The need for new ways to providing more efficient health care services, coupled with major advancements in information and communications technology have resulted in the increased use of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) applications over the past decade.

• The promise of HIT for improving quality and safety of health care while reducing costs has caught the eye of health care professionals, policy makers and patients.

OverviewOverview

• Its role is one of providing support to the human resources generation function by facilitating initial training and continuing education processes in some form –improving access, increasing effectiveness, lowering costs, etc.

• ICT impacts health systems at all levels

Resource GenerationHealth Services

FinancingHealth Policy

Workforce Planning

Education & Training

Monitoring public health

Immunization

Diagnosis & treatment

Health System

OverviewOverview

• Learning from other countries and other sectors possible impacts of this new technology will include:-

– Medical informatics

– Telemedicine

– Medical Information

– E-Learning

Functions of Internet

Medical informaticsMedical informatics

• This is a term used to describe how medical information is handled, accessed, manipulated and retrieved.

TelemedicineTelemedicine

• This is the delivery of healthcare where distance is a critical factor by all health care professionals using information and communication for the exchange of valid information for diagnosis treatment and prevention of disease and injuries, research and evaluation and for the continuing education of healthcare providers, all in the interest of advancing the healthcare of individuals and their communities. 2

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Health InformationHealth Information

• Medical professionals are better informed implying that information can get to them faster and from anywhere using internet.

• They can also take advantage of databases for medical information like

– Hinari

– Ahila

– Emedicine etcetra

• This will stimulate research

Free for Developing Countries

E LearningE Learning

• ICT has also presented innovative educational delivery methods which have overcome the traditional barriers to continuous medical education.

– The “virtual campus”

– Podcasts

– Video conferencing

ChallengesChallenges

• Poor infrastructure

• Lack of funds

• Low Human Capacity

• Lack of proper Policy

What is neededWhat is needed

• Policies and standards

– Universal, non-proprietary standards for information representation and exchange

– Guidelines for reliable health information

• Evaluation

– Evidence & experience to guide development

• Coordination

– Vertical systems impede real progress

General benefitsGeneral benefits:

• Elimination of chart-pulling, chart-filing, chart loss.

• Easy electronic review of patient information before visits.

• Notification of completed diagnostics and labs to review.

• Notification of required follow-ups, tests, etc.

• Potential reduction in medical errors with decision support and easier access to relevant information.

• Reduction in prescription errors and subsequent time lost communicating with pharmacies.

General benefitsGeneral benefits

• Easy communication with patients’ other providers — specialists, hospital visits, etc.

• More complete and detailed information available for claims, malpractice suits, etc.

• Potential reduced costs for labor and supplies related to charts and chart maintenance.

• Improved flow of information between staff members.

Asante Sana!