My Health Records
Name : Kirankumar Joitabhai CHAUDHARI
ID : 11613883
My Health Records
Introduction
Technology is one of the first growing sector in the world today. Technology has been incorporated in many sectors of the economy and has made life easier. The health sector is one of the sector that has reaped heavily from the advancement in technology. IT specialist in partnership with healthcare providers have worked tirelessly to ensure they incorporate information technology in the health sector. Health services are very essential in the country as it ensure the country has a healthy community(Hemsley et al., 2016, p. 23). Therefore, there has been incorporation of electronic and communication process in the health practices.
E-health emerged in the 21st century and since then there has been major advancement. E-health makes it possible to incorporate technology with clinical education, research, and administrative purposes without geographical limitation. E-health therefore helps to improve the delivery of health services across the country. It is in this quest to improve healthcare service delivery that we decided to come up with a new product for the health industry. The new product known as the “my health record” incorporates technology with healthcare provision(Spiranovic et al., 2014, p. 13).
Problem statement
Human beings cannot remain immune to sickness or health related problems; they are always vulnerable to sicknesses. At least an average human being will make a visit to doctor once in a while. Every time one visits a doctor, the doctor has to take down some information and store them in his or her file. The doctor will also have to ask the patient his or her medical history in order to give the patient the best care. In addition a patient will visit more than one doctor and hence the doctor does not have the information. Accessing the patient’s information can proof to be difficult if the patient is in a comma. In such cases it would very hard for the doctor to make a proper diagnosis especially when the diagnosis requires the knowledge of the prior medical history. Storing information on files or the doctor’s computer can be risky since the data may be wiped away or unwanted persons may have access to the information. The manual storage of information resulted to loss of crucial information regarding patients and interfered with smooth sharing of information.
Therefore, there is a need for a better system to store information of patients and ensure smooth sharing of the information. The system needs to be efficient and information regarding the patient should be easily accessed once the information is required. The system also needs to give the patient the assurance that it is secure. The need for such a system has led to the development of the “my health record”. The program is aimed at solving the identified problem and close the gap in the health sector.
Project description
My health record is secure online system that allows the storage of a patients’ information. Hence it is a digital health record that allow the storage a patient’s data across Australia(Hemsley et al., 2016, p. 30).
Capabilities of the project
The project will allow the storage of patients’ information in the online platform. Anytime a patient visits the doctor or any healthcare giver, the information regarding his or her health can be stored in the online platform. The information stored covers the medical history of the patient. The online system will also allow the patient to choose whatever information is being fed into the system(Wang et al., 2016, p. 13). The patient has the freewill to restrict information from being stored into the system.
The system will allow the patient to have control over who should view his or her information profile. The system allow the patients and their doctors, hospitals, hospitals, and other healthcare givers. Therefore the system restricts the number of people who have access to the patient’s information which ensures confidentiality of the information stored in the system. The system also allows for the sharing of the information stored in the online system as opposed to the manual system(Lehnbom et al., 2014, p. 5).
Benefits of the project
Increased efficiency. The online system of the health record is more efficient than the manual system. The main objective of developing the project was to develop a system that is more efficient and will ensure delivery of the health services. It is efficient in that it saves the time required to access the information need for the patient. The information is only a button away(Kraan et al., 2015, p. 14). The doctor of the healthcare giver needs to access the online system and search for the patient and then access the profile.
The system allows for efficient sharing of the patients information. In the manual system it was quite cumbersome to share the information regarding a patient and it required much time. My health record will allow quick and efficient sharing of the information since it just in the in the system(Britt et al., 2013, p. 28). If one caregiver requires information that had been keyed in by another specialist in a different visit by the patient it is very easy. Therefore prescription becomes easy.
The system will also enhance the confidentiality of the patient’s information. Medical ethical practices requires that a patient’s information remains confidential. If a patient’s medical information leaks out it may become traumatizing to the patient and it would be unethical too(Kerai et al., 2014, p. 29). The system enhance the security of the information by allowing the patient to determine who can view the information provided in the system. The information is restricted to the patient, their doctor, specialist and other healthcare givers. Therefore not every Tom Dick, and Harry will be able to access the information given in this system. The system also allows the patient to determine the kind of information to be stored in this platform(Spiranovic et al., 2014, p. 12). The patient is not compelled to store information against his or her will. The patient has control over what to be stored. The control improves confidentiality of their medical information. The patient may feel it’s not okay to release some of his information because he or she feel the information is very private.
The information can be accessed anywhere anytime; there is no geographical restriction. This will be a benefit especially to individuals in the rural areas. They will no longer need to travel to the urban areas to have their information recorded, stored or even accessed. The information can be accessed and changed from any place provided one has an internet enabled devices(Britt et al., 2013, p. 2).
The system will enhance prescription and hence reduce the number of hospital admission due to prescription issues. A patient’s medical history or information is very necessary to make some prescription. The healthcare giver needs to access the information in order to give the right prescription. In the past there has been cases where the healthcare giver was not able to have enough information concerning the patients’ medical history. In such a circumstance the healthcare giver would give prescriptions which would have adverse side effects on the patient to a point of hospitalization(Lehnbom et al., 2014, p. 17). With the help of my health record the information will be made available and the healthcare giver can be able to make the right prescription.
The system is also expected to reduce the rising cost of healthcare services. Over the years the healthcare services have escalated and the costs continue escalating, the services may be unsustainable in the future. There is a need to address this problem and reduce the cost of healthcare services to a manageable level(Hemsley et al., 2016, p. 11). My health record will cause a great milestone in the reduction of the cost. Information gaps are very costly, when information is available the cost is reduced. My health record makes the patients information available hence reduces the cost of carrying out more tests, the costs of wrong prescription and the overall treatment cost. The cost of healthcare delivery is thus expected to reduce with the introduction of my health record.
In conclusion, my health record is a program system that allows the storage of individuals’ key health information form their existing medical history. The system is expected to be a major breakthrough in the healthcare service industry. The need to improve the efficiency of healthcare services, improve the quality, and reduce the cost involved called for the development of my health record program. The program is what the Australian community needs to improve the delivery of the healthcare services. When the projected is implemented it is expected that there be delivery of quality health services at reduced cost, and also enhance the confidentiality of a patient’s information.
References
Britt, H., Miller, G.C., Henderson, J., Bayram, C., Valenti, L., Harrison, C., Charles, J., Pan, Y., Zhang, C., Pollack, A.J., others, 2013. General Practice Activity in Australia 2012-13: BEACH: Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health. Sydney University Press.
Hemsley, B., Georgiou, A., Carter, R., Hill, S., Higgins, I., van Vliet, P., Balandin, S., 2016. Use of the My Health Record by people with communication disability in Australia: A review to inform the design and direction of future research. Health Inf. Manag. J. 45, 107–115.
Kerai, P., Wood, P., Martin, M., 2014. A pilot study on the views of elderly regional Australians of personally controlled electronic health records. Int. J. Med. Inf. 83, 201–209.
Kraan, C.W., Piggott, J.J.H., van der Vegt, F., Wisse, L., 2015. Personal Health Records: Solving barriers to enhance adoption.
Lehnbom, E.C., Brien, J.E., McLachlan, A.J., 2014. Knowledge and attitudes regarding the personally controlled electronic health record: an Australian national survey. Intern. Med. J. 44, 406–409.
Spiranovic, C., Matthews, A., Scanlan, J., Kirkby, K.C., 2014. Personally controlled electronic health records in Australia: Challenges in communication of mental health information. Adv. Ment. Health 12, 147–154.
Wang, X., de Verdier, M.G., Sveréus, A., Hiller, J., Wong, D., Nasuti, P., Jenner, H., McKenney, A., 2016. Feasibility of Electronic Medical Records in Australia, China, and Japan to Support Novelty (A Novel Observational Longitudinal Study of Patients with Asthma and/or COPD). Value Health 19, A852.