E-health is the pairing of health-care initiatives with information and communications technology. Many aspects of health care and the health-care system have benefited from the integration of information and communications technology. We see it in small and large initiatives and in public and home-based health care.
Take an instrument like an electronic thermometer and compare it to its mercury cousin. In addition to providing quick temperature readings, some models can even store a memory of a person’s most recent temperature readings. This technology is used in homes across the country.
For Nova Scotia businesses, e-health has seen many advances, and there are plenty more in its future. A person looking for health-related information on the Internet can find help at GenieKnows.com, a Halifax-based website. Genieknows.com provides users with tools that allow for targeted online searches in various fields, including health.
Concertia Technologies Inc. is another local company that is making its mark on the e-health industry. Among its many projects is one that could have an effect on the lives of all Nova Scotians. Primary health information management is a joint initiative with the provincial Health Department. The information management program provides an electronic patient record for primary health-care providers. Through this electronic alternative to paper records, health-care providers can access a patient’s history instantly, including his/her health status and medication lists.
In about one year, the program has registered about 500 users in 60 clinics. It has an adoption rate of more than 1 in 4 primary-care doctors provincially.
An added bonus of the information management project is e-Results, a program that connects acute-care facilities to the same network. For example, a lab can submit a patient’s test results electronically to their family physician, which means shorter wait times and improved delivery.
Concertia is also a pioneer in the home telehealth industry. Our aging population means more and more changes and adaptations will be taking shape in the health-care system. Advances in home telehealth will provide patients with chronic diseases like asthma, diabetes and congestive heart failure with the opportunity to have their condition constantly monitored by a medical professional, without leaving their home.
Concertia’s home telehealth project is in its development stages and will undergo more research before it will be ready for widespread patient use. In the meantime, the company is working with Capital district health authority to establish the medical parameters and protocol of the technology. Although it is not available on the market today, consumers have more opportunities to purchase home health products.
In the United States, security company ADT offers a service in home health security. Targeted to seniors who would like to live at home, ADT’s service is designed to unobtrusively monitor factors in the home and notify a loved one should a danger sign appear. This would happen, for example, if no morning bedroom exit occurs, or if there is an extended bathroom period (perhaps signalling a fall), or if the household temperature significantly increases or decreases.
These innovations are just a few in the e-health industry. With the aging population approaching retirement age, the face of the health-care industry is about to change. If local businesses have it their way, Nova Scotia will be a province leading the way.
TalkIT is a monthly column prepared by the Information Technology Alliance of Nova Scotia, an industry organization committed to the development of the sector through lobbying, networking and training.
Quelle/Source: The Chronicle Herald, 29.03.2007
