EhealthEhealth

Group A – Andrew McNaught, Group A – Andrew McNaught, Konrad Borowiecki, James Konrad Borowiecki, James

Wilson, Xi ChenWilson, Xi Chen

IntroductionIntroduction

• What is Ehealth?Healthcare practise supported by electronic processes and communication

• ExamplesEMR (Electronic Medical Records)

Telemedicine

Virtual healthcare teams

What will we talk aboutWhat will we talk about

• JamesNHS spine

• AndrewImpact of online pharmacy

What will we talk aboutWhat will we talk about

• KonradVirtual health care

• ChenTelemedicine

James - EMRJames - EMR

• NHS Spine

National Central Database to store over 50 million records accessible by up to 250000 NHS staff

Part of £12 Billion IT programme for NHS

James - EMRJames - EMR

• NHS Spine benefits

Records to be collected from GP practisesCradle to grave patient records

Central database will be accessed anywhere in NHSPaper based records creating waiting times for access

Statistical analysis can be run on the database

James - EMRJames - EMR

• NHS Spine privacy concerns

Records reported to be uploaded without

patient consent according to Guardian Unlimited

Information could be accessed by

Police and security services for details on

Mental illnesses

HIV status

Drug taking

James - EMRJames - EMR

• NHS Spine privacy concerns

Opt out rights given according to NHSoption sealed electronic envelope

GP representatives urge NHS spine boycott

National program for IT won award for “Most Appalling Project” in Privacy Internationals UK big brother 2004 awards

Andrew - Online PharmacyAndrew - Online Pharmacy

• Since around 1999 many Internet pharmacies established worldwide

• Can be part of click-and-mortar operations, or stand alone online presences

• Health concerns 6th most common reason people go online

• Many exist that require a doctor’s prescription, however many do not

• Dozens of online pharmacies in Canada, mainly to service US citizens who pay highest drug prices in the world

• Benefits? Problems?

Andrew - Online Pharmacy - Andrew - Online Pharmacy - BenefitsBenefits

• Offers the consumer more privacy• Is more convenient especially for homebound

and disabled people• Can be cheaper than at traditional pharmacies• Ease of comparative shopping across many

sites• Easier and quicker access to product information

and references to other sources of information

Andrew - Online Pharmacy - Andrew - Online Pharmacy - ProblemsProblems

• Some online pharmacies selling prescription drugs without a prescription

• Fraudulent claims – “cure for cancer!” , “within 30 days you can experience growth of 3 inches!”

• Deception – e.g. was shown Herbal medications could not be sold profitably without deception

• Anonymity – no doctor-patient relationship. Leads to lack of ethical concern among online pharmacies

• Profit minded affiliate sites – only care about making a profit not about the quality of their information

• Privacy issues due to possibility of hacking• Legal and cross-border issues• Spam – 10 – 12% is health related

Konrad - Virtual healthcare – Konrad - Virtual healthcare – knowledge databaseknowledge database

• e-health sites are being used as knowledge base by people – 95% (88/93) of families characterized the information

as very helpful in furthering the understanding of their child’s heart defect

• Doctors knowledge database – medical consultations over the internet– doctors cooperation so called virtual health care

teams

Konrad - Konrad - Virtual healthcare Virtual healthcare agentsagents

• Implementation of e-healthcare into computer platforms, so called healthcare agents– some are desktop applications reminding to take a

drug in time, – some are clients allowing to use internet knowledge

database to personalize the information to help the user to examine himself

– or applications designed especially to reduces the burden on doctors and help to better understand the patients condition

Konrad - Virtual healthcare Konrad - Virtual healthcare – – additional additional advantagesadvantages

• In home-healthcare – to care patients sick on complex and chronic illnesses

or contagious diseases

• Patient care in distant, isolated regions

• Surgery through the internet – Scientists in Australia have used internet to

successfully perform microsurgery on cells located thousands of miles away in a southern California laboratory

Konrad - Konrad - Virtual healthcare - Virtual healthcare - pitfallspitfalls

”If I had to single out a single factor that is critical to the whole movement of healthcare to an online environment, it would have to be TRUST.”

Dr Richard Darby

Konrad - Konrad - Virtual Virtual healthcare - healthcare - conclusionsconclusions

The increase of the computer influence in our lives is unstoppable and it is happening now and it is up to us to implement it in proper and thoughtful way.

Chen - Chen - TelemedicineTelemedicine

• What is Telemedicine:

The application of telecommunications technology to health care, requires the integration of technology, tools and training with medical care practices and problems.

Chen - Chen - TelemedicineTelemedicine

• Telemedicine is practiced on the basis of two concepts:

Real time (synchronous)

store-and-forward (asynchronous).

Chen - Chen - TelemedicineTelemedicine

• Telemedicine in UK

Start in 1991

NHS Direct Online

http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/

TEIS - UK Telemedicine and E-health

Information Service

http://www.tis.bl.uk/