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Madeline Brownstone

Electronic health records raise doubt - The Boston Globe - 11 views

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    "Google Health and others in the fast-growing personal health record business say they are offering a revolutionary tool to help patients navigate a fragmented healthcare system, but some doctors fear that inaccurate information from billing data could lead to improper treatment."
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    This article provides a possible service that can be used in the east African country our case study is on. Google health is a free service that would give all patients the opportunity to store their health records digitially, making it easier for doctors to access it. Especially if telemedicine were to be used, having electronic health records would be a great benefit. However, the issue of reliability is especially troubling when it comes to using services like Google health in this context. There have been many reported errors with the diagnoses of patients using this service, and it is crucial that the records are checked by both patients and doctors to ensure that all information listed is correct. Literacy rates are much lower in rural African settings, creating a problem for patients who may be unaware of inaccurate information on their records. Especially for individuals in critical conditions, fatal mistakes can therefore be made.
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    Electronic Health Records are also used in the case study. Patients and doctors rely on these records for accurate data, but it is rather difficult, due to the lack of reliability with which Google Health updates patient's health data. In order for Dr. Ogola's plan to work (face the challenges, create a modern health system), he must implement such health records that will store patients' information on an accessible, secure and easy to use database. This would help patients, doctors and nurses share data without having to travel long distances. Data would be secure and also accessible to the three parties. However, this would require a reliable system (more than Google Health) so as to not provide inaccurate data to the patients. Patient involvement in the care of his/her own data would be required for an such an erroneous system, as would a reliable source of healthcare information on the patients. Unreliable sources can potentially damage the whole system.
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    The use of Electronic Health Records in this article can be applied to our case study. Firstly, it would make the transfer of patient data easier and faster, this would increase the quality of care that the hospitals and clinics offer to their patients. These Electronic Health Records can also keep data from different doctors in order, for example if a patient visits several Doctors all of their information will be in one place and ready to access when ever necessary. In the case study if doctors had a more accurate picture of the patients medical history they would be more prepared to make diagnoses, especially when they are working with strange cases. This would also help to increase the quality of treatment that the patient would receive. Digital Health Records are easy to update both the patient and the doctor can edit the Electronic Health Record, it also can keep track of test results, and medications that the patient is currently using. Electronic Health Records allow patients to be more active in their health care allowing them to see and have access to all of their medical information. Even though this IT system is ideal for our case study there are some things we should take into consideration. In our case study we would have to make sure that equality of access is equal for everyone, there may be some people living on the outskirts of villages that might not have access to Digital Health Records. We would also have to assume that everyone would know how to use the Digital Health Record. Meaning how to update it and how to look for errors. Lastly we would have to assume that the patient would make good use out of having an Electronic Health Record. They would have to constantly be updating and checking their records to see if there is any missing information or any errors within their data. Lastly, the coding system would have to be revised, it is confusing and very inaccurate, there should be a new coding system that makes understanding your own records
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    In this article, the use of electronic health records is discussed. However, some problems arising from their use are also introduced, including inaccurate patient information. In the world of the case study, this IT system, electronic health records. is quite relevant and can be useful. EHRs can be used in Africa to connect rural doctors to hospitals and other professional health care workers in better facilities. This way patients' records can be reviewed, diagnoses can be made and other help can be given. However, if this system is taken advantage of in Africa, its users must be certain that the information in the records is accurate and comes from a reliable source. This is because if the information in a record is inaccurate, incorrect diagnosis and/or medication can be given as was the situation in the article. These kinds of mistakes can be detrimental to some patients.
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    This article elaborates on the drawbacks of electronic health files. Although the IT System, Google Health, seems that it will make getting quality health care much easier and quicker, there is a major issue of possible inaccurate information. These inaccuracies or exaggerated diagnoses on Google Health may prevent patients from receiving the care they need, and Google Earth is prone to human error as real people are responsible for inputting insurance billing codes or mislabeling a lab test with a disease that is hoped to be ruled out. This has an impact on our African case study as this article illustrates one of the highly potential problems that arise from the use of telemedicine. Although medical centers in Africa would be able to eliminate the tedious process of paper work by instantly communicating records over the internet, these records can be inaccurate and therefore compromise an already sick patients health even further. However, for the case study, EMR's prove to be a very feasible solution for the lack of communication and distances between villages and health centers, but a solution must be made in order to counteract the potential misdiagnoses'. One solution could be that patients would check their EMR's for accuracy, but with the poor conditions of living in the African villages and poor or no internet service, this solution does not seem possible for the case study.
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    This article is about a man getting his health information in an electronic health records massed up. There's an issue with the EMRs in the sense that they are sometimes unreliable. In regard to the Case study, as they want to place EMRs into their hospitals and clinics they ma have this issue with reliability. But it has shown signs of improvement from paper records. But the hospitals and clinics in the East African cities will need to hire more staff to make sure these records are up to date and accurate. As for the health of the patients, EMRs has its benefits and drawbacks. If the information is accurate then a life could be saved and that person could be properly cared for in a more timely fashion, but if the information isn't accurate they could be given unneeded surgery or given the wrong drugs. The EMRs could help the efficiency of the hospitals and clinics because they could work faster and get to more patients without wasting countless time looking through paper records.
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    This article arises a social and ethical issue of integrity of electronic health records. In this article, Dave deBronkart faced this issue when he transferred his medical records to Google Health. His information was inaccurately transferred because of the incorrect coding that insurance companies use. The database then used this incorrect coding and stated that Dave had other health problems, which he never had. The lack of codes makes the database more likely to make an inaccurate diagnosis. It also suffers from reliability because if the information, doctors can't rely on it to make correct diagnosis. Electronic databases are very useful and can be used in Oobunta if its integrity is improved. It will allow patients in villages that can't afford travel to share their symptoms and past medical history with doctors in the hospital. This will cut costs for both doctors and patients because they won't have to pay for transportation. It will also benefit the patients because it will let them be diagnosed accurately especially if they don't have enough resources or medical care in their village.
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    This article covers a recent problem that has risen from the use of Electronic Medical Records. Google's new Google Health, a service that gathers e-health records for patients all in one place has become unreliable. Google Health gathers medical information from billing records, which is an inaccurate source of information. The medical records on the site also do not distinguish between recent illnesses and past illnesses, and does not indicate the level of severity for the health issues. The diagnostic medical coding is to blame for inaccuracies in information gleaned from insurance data, mostly because it is clunky and includes tests for diseases that doctors hope to rule out, not for diseases that the patients necessarily have. The problems that the unwieldy code and medical records in Google Health bring up are enormous. Information is inaccurate and out of date, and this is potentially deadly when patients are being treated. The issue of reliability is that data in the records is out of date, and entered incorrectly, which could be the difference between life and death for patients with dangerous diseases.
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    This article was about electronic medical records. They allow patients to share their health information with doctors over the Internet, using Goggle Health. However, this application is not completely accurate. It takes information from insurance bills. These insurance bills may not be precise in describing the treatment of a patient because of their lack of codes. This raises the issue of reliability of the electronic health records. Inaccurate records could stop a doctor from performing a life saving procedure on a patient. The article relates to the case study because it talks about the drawbacks of having electronic medical records. In order for issues with reliability and integrity to be avoided in Oobunta, patients should regularly check their records to ensure their accuracy. Doctors and patients should also communicate more to eliminate problems within the health records.
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    In this article, a new electronic health system arose. In order for one to use this newly aged system, their personal health records must be transferred. According to the article, "accuracy gets lost in translation" (Wangsness). Due to the fact that certain information is getting lost in translation, many issues have been brought up, such as reliability. Health records are vital for every individual because they contain information that cannot be found anywhere else. A loss in data, such as certain dates, can lead to many problems for the patients during treatment. As a solution, people are asked to do one thing. They are told to check out their record and see if everything is accurate. There is a positive side for this new system and it relates directly to our case study. These Google health records are easily transferable. If one needs to send out their information to a hospital for a diagnosis, they can do so in no time. In the case study, people in Africa are having trouble getting to a hospital because of the expenses and lack of transportation. By using these Google electronic health records, the people would be able to e-mail their record to a hospital for a direct prognoses. This would save them so much money and time because they would be able to complete this task in the comfort of their own home, or anyplace with internet access. These electronic health records can solve many problems in Africa.
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    This case study tackles the issues of Integrity and Reliability. The article talks about inaccurate health records and it effect on patients who want to follow updates on their health status. The stakeholders in this articles are patients because they are the ones who need accurate information, doctors because patients come to them when they read inaccurate information about their health and the people who control the information in the databases because they are the ones responsible for whether or not the information is accurate. Integrity is an appropriate Social and Ethical Issue because the information in the databases have a been changed accidentally, in turn affecting accuracy. Reliability is even better because is directly about accuracy of data, if it is entered incorrectly. If data is entered wrong patients lose trust in them. This is especially relevant to databases which is the major IT system discussed in this article. In relation to the case study it is important to find a solution for the patients of Africa, that is as efficient as possible. In a place like the one described in the study it is important to save time by being as accurate as possible and making sure that patents and doctors can understand the information on databases, ensuring more successful treatments for the patients.
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    In the East African city, the medical facilities all contain databases that their patient's health records are recorded on, however the platform for each database varies between each clinic and the main hospital. This in turn makes it more difficult to exchange health records between each clinic and the main hospital.This article brings up a solution to the health records exchange problem that are within this East African Region. Google Health is a database that is in the cloud and makes it possible to exchange health records through the internet. This form of exchanging data for a patient helps to keep a patient's data up to date. Now though this could be a great solution it comes with many drawbacks from the system and the lacking materials from the East African region makes it difficulty to better utilize it.
Olivia M

BBC NEWS | Technology | Free medical tool tackles disease - 3 views

  • Our mission is to build a health records system in support of direct patient care, on the ground for the very poorest of the poor,"
    • Madeline Brownstone
       
      Equality of Access
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    The Open Medical Record System (OpenMRS) is providing countries, such as South Africa, with an online patient medical record system.
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    The Open Medical Record System (OpenMRS) is providing countries, such as South Africa, with an online patient medical record system.
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    This article is about the need for OpenMRS in developing countries such as South Africa. This is necessary because it will help improve how people are treated. By knowing about someone's medical history, it can help decrease the spread of diseases such as HIV and Aids.
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    The issue is that there is a lack of open medical record systems in developing countries. Because of this diseases are being spread when they can easily be prevented. The thing that people were doing that gave rise to this issue is that in some countries, diseases were being spread at a faster rate then in others because of lack of background medical information. the impact that this has on people is that people in developing countries are spreading diseases at a faster rate. So diseases such as HIV and Aids are spreading in developing countries such as South Africa because of lack of medical background. The stakeholders are patients. The IT system is open medical record system. The area of impact is health. The social and ethical issue is equality of access. By having a medical record of everyone, people will be able to be treated equally because the doctor's will have their whole medical history.
Madeline Brownstone

In Rural Africa, a Fertile Market for Mobile Phones - NYTimes.com - 0 views

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    "The recent completion of the first of several planned undersea cables connecting East Africa to broadband Internet has raised hopes that high-speed Web access will increase here. "
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    Not relevant directly for medicine, but very good overview of growing mobile phone use in East Africa
Madeline Brownstone

BBC NEWS | Africa | 'We send x-rays to South Africa and India' - 0 views

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    Not a news article, per se, but starts to show the uses of mobiles in health industry in rural areas
Madeline Brownstone

BBC NEWS | Technology | Texts tackle HIV in South Africa - 0 views

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    The popularity of mobile phones in South Africa is helping to tackle HIV and Aids in the nation.
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    The popularity of mobile phones in South Africa is helping to tackle HIV and Aids in the nation.
Madeline Brownstone

Re-Greening in Africa - World Wide Web Foundation - 1 views

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    "The project will exploit the current infrastructure consisting of Internet cafes in larger towns, mobile phones available to most families or communities, and radios that are an important way of providing information to people. We expect the following outcomes: "
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    This project looks interesting. I wonder if any issues have arisen from it. It was only established this year as a service project of W3C, but what are the potential issues here?
Madeline Brownstone

BBC NEWS | Technology | Mobiles combat Kenyan polio outbreak - 1 views

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    A mobile phone based health application has helped to investigate and contain a polio outbreak that threatened thousands in East Africa.
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    A mobile phone based health application has helped to investigate and contain a polio outbreak that threatened thousands in East Africa.
Mark Gakin

UN village project provides model for ending poverty - The National Newspaper - 1 views

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    "The Millennium Villages use so-called telemedicine technology to improve health care. Health workers in the villages are given mobile phones and sent out to treat patients. After testing patients for various diseases, the workers send the results via text message to remote clinics and are told which treatment to provide. "It is a very wonderful system," Mr Sachs said. "It empowers providers in the community to get very powerful results.""
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    Economist argues that the West can afford $32bn for Africa, after a pilot scheme proves to be a success in reducing poverty and increasing HIV awareness. Poverty is decreasing in the village which is creating a drastic change. The people of the village are effected by this because they are part of the area affected. Just like the on in class, the area of interactions is health and the IT system is telemedicine, as well as computer devices. The major issues regarding this article are as follows: people and machines is one of the better ones because the machines are shaping the lives of different humans. Change is being established, which usually leads to both good and bad things.
Madeline Brownstone

Computer Aid International - 0 views

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    "The African Medical Research and Education Foundation, is putting Computer Aid International PCs, together with scanners and digital cameras, into rural health clinics in some of the most isolated communities in Africa. From there, nurses and newly qualified doctors can email pictures via the internet to clinical specialists for instant expert diagnosis. By this mechanism people living in rural areas can have access to the best clinical diagnosis available and medical conditions can be treated promptly and accurately with life-saving consequences. "
Madeline Brownstone

Africa can teach development experts - This is Africa - 0 views

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    "African entrepreneurs have successfully capitalised on cascading prices of digital technologies and brought widespread use of mobile phones, internet applications and media products to the doorsteps of many Africans. Local entrepreneurs have built services and infrastructure based on ordinary people's ability to pay. Productivity gains and higher incomes resulting from these services mean that people can afford them. The profitability of these companies invites competition, which lowers costs for consumers and leads to even greater innovations as competitors try to outdo one another. And competition prevents abuses."
Madeline Brownstone

In Rural Africa, a Fertile Market for Mobile Phones - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • When the battery dies, Mr. Rutagumirwa, a 50-year-old farmer, walks just over four miles to charge it so he can maintain his position as communication hub and banana-disease tracker for his rural neighbors.
    • Madeline Brownstone
       
      The need for electronic devices in rural areas of the world require creative solutions to keeping the machines charged.
Kristin O

Breaking News, Kenya, Africa, Politics, Business, Sports, Blogs, Photos, Vide... - 1 views

shared by Kristin O on 14 Sep 09 - Cached
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    Here SMS text messaging is being taken advantage of by people when they are angry
Jialin C

Banks to send IT roles offshore - 1 views

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    An offshore bank is a bank located outside the country of residence of the depositor, typically in a low tax location that provides financial and legal advantages. These advantages typically include: low or no taxation and easy access to deposits. This article discusses how the TSB bank is offering IT roles in India based on the back's outsourcing plans. According to the spokesman, the UK IT jobs would be offshored to support international growth of services; which would result in a dramatic cut to the domestic IT workforce. The primary stakeholders, are the the domestic IT staff and the IT roles that are being established in India and Africa.
Karen M

BBC NEWS | Business | India faces battle for outsourcing - 0 views

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    This article is about the issues that India is now facing because they are the world leader in IT outsourcing. The IT system in this article is the call centers that are located in India. The area of impact is Business and Employment. Outsourcing provides jobs for the citizens of India. Their employment is at risk because of the fact that India now has to compete against other countries for the same outsourcing jobs. The stakeholders are the Indian workers, global customers, competitors, and the companies who are outsourcing. The Indian workers now need to work even harder to keep their jobs because there are other countries who are trying to step up their people so that they could be capable of doing the same work. For example, Africa is starting to become well-known in the world of outsourcing because they have the same amount of talent and can also speak English. India is no longer the first country that comes to mind when companies are thinking about outsourcing. Other countries are willing to do the same job for less money, leading for companies to choose them over India. There have also been cases where the customers are not satisfied by the calls that they make offshore. This would play into the decision of the company of whether they want to move their outsourcing site or not. One issue mentioned in the article is security. There have been instances in which a customer's financial information has been sold by unscrupulous employees. By outsourcing, the head company is putting a lot of trust in the company they hire to do the job. They are risking their customers' satisfaction by allowing foreign countries manage their operations. Although a call center may not seem really important in the company, the workers are still dealing with customers of the company and should make sure to keep them satisfied. If the customers are not satisfied, they would probably take their money and invest in another company who would give them a more secure experience.
Ariel A

Strengthening sub-Saharan Africa's health systems: A practical approach - 1 views

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    Money is an important part of the Health issues in Africa. (Brief response) --not finished--
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