ICT in Medicine

1. ICT in Medicine Ch 52 3

2. Introduction • ICT is used in many ways in the provision and management of healthcare services: • Hospital administration • Medical training • Maintenance of patient records • Communications between doctors/patients/hospitals • Diagnosis • Monitoring • Surgeries

3. Objectives You should have an understanding of a wide range of work-related ICT applications and their effects, including applications in medicine • doctors’ information systems • hospital and pharmacy records • Monitoring • expert systems for diagnosis

4. We are looking at the processes in a logical order, considering the advantages and disadvantages of using ICT in each one.

5. Today: • Drugs • Monitoring • Medical training • Surgery • Communication • Hospital Administration

6. Drugs • Patient data can be easily shared between doctors, pharmacies and other hospitals • Doctors can instruct a pharmacy to issue medication for a patient (no paper note needs to be written)

7. Advantages • No handwriting issues • No dosage problems • Patient does not have to wait for dispensing • If drug is out of stock at one pharmacy, the database can be used to find other sources of stock • Just-in-time stock control

8. Disadvantages • Power failures • Internet/network issues • Cost • training

9. On line pharmacies • There has been a worrying growth in the amount of sites which are selling medicines online. • Some people might think it is a good idea not to have to bother their doctor or they might like the idea at getting their tablets much cheaper than they could on prescription. However, there are a lot of potential dangers with buying medicines online.

10. Dangers: • how do you know that the drug is actually what it says it is? • how do you know the dosages are correct? • is this the best drug for your condition? • could the drug interact with something else you are taking? • could the drug be illegal or dangerous?

11. Monitoring • Technology is used to monitor your body's condition by both GPs and hospitals. • Hospitals need to monitor a patient's vital signs to alert them of any problems they may have. • Inputs? • Outputs?

12. Blood pressure monitor • This can take readings at preset intervals, anything from one minute to a few hours. Not only does it check a patient's blood pressure, it can also measure their pulse and respiration rate.

13. Electrocardiogram (ECG) • measures electrical activity generated by the heart • can be used for diagnosis to find out if a patient has had a heart attack. • used for monitoring a patient who has had a heart attack or who doctors think might have one soon. It can give them an idea of whether there are problems with the patient's heart. What input /output devices are used? What type of printer?

14. Blood Oxygen Monitor • It is critical that the level of oxygen in a patient's blood is kept stable. If it goes too low they might become confused and eventually suffer from brain damage. What input /output devices are used?

15. Advantages • Constant 24/7 monitoring • Accuracy • Frequency • Cost • Nurses’ time • Alarm • Data logging

16. Disadvantages • Training • Cost • Equipment/power failure

17. Surgery • Over the past few years there have been many developments in using robots to perform some parts of an operation. • Normally, a skilled surgeon will guide the robot to perform the procedure

18. Advantages • greater accuracy • less damage to tissue than would occur if the surgeon was to do the operation himself. • Less time in hospital • Reduced costs • Faster recovery • Greater convenience

19. Medical training • Access to research • Simulators • Modeling • Advantages? • Problems?

20. Communication • Direct • Email • Video conferencing • IM between departments • Records kept • Speed • Better service

21. Methods of communication

22. Hospital administration • Hospital administration is the management of the hospital as a business. • The administration is made up of medical and health services managers (sometimes called health care executives and health care administrators) and assistant administrators. • Administrators are liaisons between the hospital boards, other administrators and the medical staff.

23. What do Administrators do? • coordinate the activities of and create policies for the hospital. • in charge of hiring and training of doctors and other staff • perform evaluations of current employees and direct staff meetings. • responsible for the hospital's public relations and fundraising programs. • develop programs for teaching and research hospitals. They must be aware of new advances in medicine

24. Advantages • Allow administrators to communicate easily and quickly with other departments, doctors, hospitals etc • Levels of authorization/security • Huge storage capability • Backups can be done automatically • Internet etc for research

25. Disadvantages • Training in HA system is essential • Training is expensive and affects productivity while it is happening • Staff turnover – security of data/training issues • Cost of Hospital Administration systems is huge

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