Despite problems that arose as eHealth Ontario tried to set up a provincewide system, medical officials such as doctors, nurses and pharmacists in Waterloo Region, Wellington County and Hamilton are now able to help their patients by sharing information through a computer network. Called ClinicalConnect, the network is a secure online portal.
The program started at the Hamilton local health network and expanded to include the Niagara-Haldimand-Brant area and Waterloo-Wellington. At present, 2,500 health care providers and 28 hospitals are able to use it.
Doctors and patients seem to be pleased with the results. Dr. Mohamed Alarakhia, a Kitchener family doctor, described the system as revolutionary. “It has been unbelievable and it has changed care,” he said.
Significantly, eHealth Ontario has announced earlier this week that it will contribute $5 million to the program. The grant will enable another 600 medical practitioners to join the system.
Partly because of problems at the provincial level, medical offices in Ontario have not been fully plugged into the computer age. With ClinicalConnect, however, perhaps health care providers and patients will soon regard the information coming through computer systems as being as important as that provided by a stethoscope.
---
Quelle/Source: The Record, 11.08.2011
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
