What is ‘eHealth’?
eHealth is a very broad term, and as such, there are various definitions to this ‘buzzword’. However, there is a general understanding that eHealth covers various activities related to the use of modern technology and the Internet to deliver healthcare that meets the needs of patients, healthcare professionals, healthcare providers, and policy makers.
One of the eHealth solutions that brought about substantial change and improvement to public health care delivery was the implementation of the Radiology Information System and Picture Archiving and Communications System. This solution was implemented to coincide with the opening of the Mater Dei Hospital back in November 2007, a hospital designed to be entirely ‘filmless’. This brought about significant improved changes to not only the Medical Imaging Department’s workflow, but also to the hospital as a whole, as radiographers, radiologists, and clinicians moved from film-based X-rays to online digital images.
The instant availability of digital images have improved patient care as diagnosis time frames were shortened and better analysis is now possible due to the flexibility available to view and control images on screen. Earlier this month, this solution was also implemented at the newly refurbished Radiology Department at Gozo General Hospital, thus ensuring that the two main Government Radiology Departments are now filmless, fully computerised, and all (digital) X-rays and radiology reports processed by these two departments are available in a digital format for public healthcare providers.
By January 2008, the Laboratory Information System was fully implemented at the Laboratory Department of Mater Dei Hospital. This system allowed the department to shift to a single patient-centric system and has made it possible to store all the patient’s laboratory results on one system. In the past, different laboratory disciplines used different systems that worked independently, thus making it very difficult to consolidate laboratory information for any particular patient.
Placing laboratory results and radiology results at the fingertips of clinicians at public hospitals and health centres was the next challenge. Both systems mentioned above are departmental systems and as such are not used by clinicians in the wards, outpatients clinics, or health centres. A common interface for all users was introduced with the implementation of an Order Communications System for eOrdering and eResults. This system was integrated to the previous mentioned systems via industry standard HL7 messaging and has now enabled clinicians to view patient laboratory and radiology results instantaneously the minute they are done. Clinicians are also ordering laboratory and radiology tests electronically through this system, and patients who visit any public hospital or health centre will see that clinicians will be able to access their radiology and laboratory results at the touch of a button.
Government is now in the process of taking eHealth to the next level, and it is planned to provide private healthcare professionals with access to certain parts of patient health records held by government healthcare providers. This will be delivered via an eHealth Portal where Discharge Letters, Radiology Reports, and Laboratory Results will be made available to private healthcare providers. It is also planned that through this portal, patients will be able receive outpatient appointment reminders via SMS.
The underlying concept behind this initiative is to put patients in control of their health record. Patients will be able to decide which healthcare providers are able to access their health record through this portal. Patients will also be able to view their records online once the information has been discussed with their private healthcare provider. To access the portal, both patients and healthcare providers will need to authenticate with the secure eID.
The smart application of ICT in healthcare, will enable a transformation within the health system whereby patients’ continuity of care across the health sector will be more feasible, and private healthcare professionals will be able to securely access patient data held by public healthcare providers more easily and rapidly to provide citizens with a better and faster overall service.
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Simon Formosa is a Project Manager at MITA on health related projects
Collaboration agreement on ICT training courses for disabled persons
The Foundation for Information Technology Accessibility (FITA) and the Directorate for Lifelong Learning (DLL) have just signed and an agreement for collaboration on the organisation of ICT training courses for disabled persons.
These courses will be strategically aimed to empower persons with an intellectual or communication difficulty with the ICT skills necessary to make use of computer and communications technology, foster their social inclusion and also boost their employability. The agreement was signed by Mr Stanley M. Debono, Chief Executive Officer of FITA and Mr. Mario Azzopardi, Director of DLL.
“FITA encourages ICT providers to cater for inclusive education, by providing the necessary measures that will ensure full participation by disabled persons,” stated Mr Debono. “To this effect, FITA assists many organisations, including employers, in identifying the tools required by young and adult students.”
He continued to explain that, contrary to common perception, such measures are not necessarily expensive. “Simply leaving reasonable desk space to allow for wheelchair access, varying the height of a desk, providing notes in electronic format, or using the built-in accessibility features of MS-Windows or other suitable software, is usually sufficient to address the requirements of 74 per cent of disabled persons in Malta and Gozo. This statistic does not include many elderly persons who may share similar needs,” he explained.
Together with MCAST and DLL, FITA provides these courses for two main reasons. Firstly, mainstream training providers still tend to shy away from providing the adjustments required by persons with an intellectual impairment. Where they do, course fees often become prohibitive. Secondly, over the years, FITA has been overwhelmed by the holistic progress achieved by these students.
“The boost to their self esteem has helped some of them to seek further courses and employment which seemed out of reach when they first approached FITA. All of the students attending these courses have learnt to make a more effective use of computers, e-services and social media,” said Mr Debono. “Today, it is common knowledge that these are part of the basic life skills, required by all members of society.”
FITA has offered a number of other courses in the past, mainly geared towards ECDL certification. The agreement with the Directorate for Lifelong Learning is of particular importance because it enables FITA to base its present and future courses on the certification levels set out by the Malta Qualifications Council. This ensures that students attending our courses can continue to boast a proven track record across a set of widely understood achievement standards.
For more information about FITA’s operations, its services and initiatives visit www.fitamalta.eu.
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The Malta Independent ICT Feature
In the annual study conducted by INSEAD and the World Economic Forum, Malta was ranked in the 27th place (amongst 138 countries worldwide) in the adoption and implementation of ICTs for increased growth and development. In the report, Malta came first amongst the 22 Southern European countries. In this week’s feature we will analyse this report and also look at Malta’s ranking in most of the indicators measured.
The developments of ICT in healthcare is another topic we will look into in today’s feature where we will look at what defines eHealth, which systems and projects have already been implemented, what benefits are patients and healthcare professionals reaping out of these projects and we will also look at what we can expect for the future through the application of ICT in healthcare.
We will also look at the recent agreement signed between the Foundation for Information Technology Accessibility (FITA) and the Directorate for Lifelong Learning for the organisation of ICT training courses for disabled persons.
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Roderick Spiteri is Marketing and Communications Executive at MITA and editor of Malta Independent ICT feature
Malta leading in ICT among southern European countries
Malta has emerged as the leading country in adoption and implemention of ICT (information and communication technologies) advances for increased growth and development among the 22 Southern European economies.
This was revealed recently when INSEAD, the French business school, and the World Economic Forum (WEF) issued their 10th anniversary of the Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011, which focuses on the power of ICT to transform society in the next decade.
In this report, which covered a record of 138 economies worldwide, Malta was ranked in the 27th place worldwide.
Each year, a number of indicators are measured for each country and their various scores are then used to determine their overall ‘Networked Readiness Index’ (NRI). This shows how prepared countries are to use ICT on three dimensions: 1) the general business, regulatory and infrastructure environment for ICT; 2) the readiness of the three societal actors – individuals, businesses and governments – to use and benefit from ICT; and 3) their actual usage of available ICT.
The theme chosen for this year’s report was transformations 2.0. ICT has already demonstrated its power as a catalyst for change, modernisation and innovation, and therefore the report explores the ways in which ICT will further revolutionise the way social stakeholders work, interact and conduct their lives, business and transactions.
Sweden and Singapore retained their first and second placing respectively. Finland placed in the third place, up by 3 places from last year.
This year’s report confirmed the leadership of Nordic countries and the Four Asian Tiger economies in adopting and implementing ICT advances for increased growth and development - Sweden (1st), Denmark (7th) and Norway (9th) all placed in the top 10 whilst Iceland ranked in the 16th place. Meanwhile, Singapore led the Asian Tiger economies with Taiwan and Korea improving five places to 6th and 10th respectively, and Hong Kong SAR following closely at 12th.
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Quelle/Source: The Malta Independent Online, 21.04.2011
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