ITGS News

This is similar to the video we watched in class a while ago. This tells me of a doctor who is helping people who are out of reach. This indicates how tele-medicine decreases the cost for patients to gain medical help. There are very few large hospitals spread over Argentina. Tele-medicine also allows hospitals to communicate with smaller clinics. The clinics can send the hospitals the symptoms of their patients. Then they can diagnose the patient and send over the results. The patients and doctors in this situation would be the stakeholders. This would be solving the social and ethical issue known as the digital divide and equality of access. By using tele-medicine doctors can access almost anyone, this cuts the problem of cost as well. This allows anyone to have access to a doctor. As said in the article "even patients in rural areas can have access to the best medical care, without the expense of traveling". This shows that even people who cannot afford to travel long distances to get the doctor. This also allows people who need the help of a specialist to use telecommunications to contact the specialist from their local doctor. However, as said in the article, the hardware needed would need to support audio, and visual components. By having visual aids, the doctors can look at the patients physical health and possibly diagnose them. The audio aids would help the doctors talk to the patients to allow them to figure out what's wrong with them. I think the best thing to use would be a webcam. This supports audio and visual aid.

This is a warehouse of information on digital communication.

Try this little game

This is a cute little game ms brownstone. I'm pretty sure its for little kids who don't really have the greatest common sense. I think it could actually be very helpful for these kids who are first starting to surf the internet and open up their first e-mail accounts. I remember in 3rd grade i created my first e-mail, and i would get these e-mails. I usually had the common sense to not open these spam emails. However, as a child, I did not know how smart the senders were and i got fooled once and it led to a virus on my computer. Luckily enough, my dad could fix anything, and got rid of the virus and everything seemed okay. This game could have really helped at that time. However, it is still good that you posted it for us (bsge tech students) to look at because it gives us an idea on games that teach lessons, which could be useful.

This is funny. I did not intend to post this here. :-) It's for my 7th graders. Will try to redirect it. Thanks, Yuval, for the heads up.

This articles with the solutions that were created by telemedicine during the disastrous earthquake. Much similar to victims in Argentina or those in Argentina who don't have telemedicine, those victims in Haiti are being treated through telemedicine. After the unfortunate earthquake in Haiti, the University of the Miami took into their own hands to set up various tents around Haiti. Besides having very little medicine, Haiti also had a communication problem. These from the University of Miami were not able to communicate with those from the United State. Therefore, they set up real time technology as a form of communication in order to consult colleagues at the University of Florida. Two devices about the size of a laptop were donated to them, and the satellite telephone, internet and video camera contained in each allowed the doctors to communicate with each other. These satellites allowed doctors to conduct and give prescriptions as well as well as communicate to other doctors of those patients who needed to evacuated from the are and taken to the United States for Health care. This article also talks about doctors who are using cellphones in order to take pictures and perform x-rays. There are a variety of stakeholders in relation to the satellites that are allowing the doctors from the University a Miami to perform their real time operations for their consultations and for prescribing medicine. One of these stakeholders would be the people or victims in haiti. After the Earthquake, many were left in dangerous need of assistance, and without these satellites, there would be no way in which they could communicate with people in the United States (The University in Miami) in order to get proper prescriptions. These are very important stakeholders, because if the people of Haiti aren't provided with this form of telemedicine, they would not be able to get treated for the illnesses/injuries that occurred to them during the earthquake. Another stake holder is the U

niversity of Miami. Without these satellites, they would not be able to do their job. This is the only form of communication they have with their fellow doctos in the United States. In the Article, is specifies that the doctors had a hard time creating forms of communication in Haiti, therefore if the satellites do not function, the doctors from UMiami, would not be able to prescribe medicine to the victims, and the victims would not be able to get their treatment. Social and Ethical issues then arrive from the Article and the IT system. These satellites that allow for communication and telemedicine are breaking down the digital divide. Specifically in the article, it states that Haiti did not have doctors and that form of technology in order to perform telemedicine. These satellites and bringing them to Haiti was breaking down a digital divide, in which it was giving them the IT that other countries were already familiar and working with. Another Social/Ethical issue that arrives from the IT system is Globalization. In the way in which it breaks down cultural, economic, or divisions causes by a countries location to another. The IT system allows for those in Haiti to communicate with those in the United States. Therefore, it is creating or breaking down any divisions that were previously there because of their location as countries. Another major Social/Ethical issue that arrises is Reliability. The doctors from the University of Miami are relying on these satellites in order to perform their job. If there is an issue on their reliability, it would be catastrophic to the worked (not having any form of communication with their colleagues) as well as the people who would no source of medicine through the real time consultations.

This article discusses the introduction of IT in haiti after the disastrous earthquake that hit this under-privelaged country hard. There are many people who are put in the situation of getting wounded from the earthquake. A few volunteers from the University of Miami went to Haiti with 2 donated portable satellites, computer laptops, each device contained a satellite telephone, satellite Internet, and video camera. These donated materials and workers who volunteered were important because of the problem with money in Haiti. The medical team consulted in real time with their Florida colleagues 700 miles away. The potential of this was that it can improve diagnoses, speed treatment, and lower costs. One thing they could do was, using a camera on a cell phone with Internet access, they took photos of patients' X-ray films and wounds and emailed them to stateside specialists. Without this technology, it would have been much, much more difficult to work logistics and communications. Dr. Alessi, a volunteer in Haiti for many years, worked when there was no use of It. "What's most exciting is that we are building an entire health system in Haiti," he said. "That's where telemedicine and technology will come in. I think Haiti is finally going to be connected to the rest of the world."

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

describes how this works

This short article discusses The Medical University of South Carolina's effort to start the Biomedical Research Bank, a collection of donated samples of blood, tissue, and bodily fluids with identifying information contained in a database. Then, by searching this medical database for specifics, researchers could easily find information necessary for research and various studies, and potentially reach their goal of "personalizing medicine".

Damian Green a person who insists not giving their medical information to Google Health and Microsoft Vault.

Medical researchers have found that the use of EMRs have not really been helping the patients. The patients who are stakeholders, who may be spending a lot of time and money giving detailed information to the hospitals may not be benefiting from it but rather are having a negative effect. EMRs are electronic medical records which were intended to benefit patients by processing information taken from the patient to find a possible solution. The information in advanced is not particularly useful, even compared to more basic EMRs. These patients are also giving personal medical information out and are putting it in danger of being seen if there is a breach of security from someone who may find access to the records. 

This article focuses specifically upon the negative implications that surface with the installation and adaptation of electronic medical records (EMR) for medical professionals targeting specifically the level of doctor/patient relationships. The author, a medical specialist within a facility, talks about his experience with the proven efficiency of the EMR system's effective retrieval of patient medical history and advanced medical database, but further accentuates emphasis on the system's flawed influence upon medical professional and patient relations. One of the primary stakeholders, the medical doctors and physicians complain that the system itself places limitations upon doctors' interactions with patients during the time of consultation (a critical part of constructing medical diagnoses); the author places emphasis upon the way he had to consistently go back and forth from the patient to the computer, in order to type in the retrieved information gained from the conversation. The act of going back and forth between patient and technological system (EMR) discouraged and urged the patient into silence, thus limiting conversation with the doctor, due to the lack of complete face to face, non interrupted evaluation and reflection of medical symptoms, history, prior experiences from the perspective of the patient. Thus, the second primary stakeholder, the patient himself, feels that he or she is not properly or fully being examined; more importantly this places the patient into the position of feeling less significant, as if his/her perspective doesn't truly matter when in reality it is the patient's responsibility to be clear and coherent with the medical professional, to help navigate the doctor into generating the correct diagnosis that will help save patient lives. The IT system involved is the EMR (electronic medical record) system that operated with the help of dozens of computer terminals that were positioned in individual workstations (hardware com

(continuation) component) and worked on the same networking service. The software programming that came with the system helped improve the retrieval and sharing of patient medical history, organization of data, efficiency and flexibility of keying in and updating medical information etc. In connection to the scenario of Health, the limiting influence forced upon doctor/patient relationships sourced from the integration of EMR systems targets a flaw in the advantage of having instant connection to patient medical information. Not only are doctors forced to focus on correctly typing in the necessary information, thus avoiding or diminishing patient relations, but the great magnitude of medical information stored and available in EMR systems, "can push some doctors into what one EMR expert refers to as "cognitive overload" while trying to balance patient input with medical history data on the spot. Furthermore, the system's software tool, such as the fee-for-service payment system, which helps tabulate symptoms while simultaneously facilitating the billing process, continues to discourage doctors from executing patient consultation. One major issue that surfaces is reliability; the EMR system itself consists of hardware and software components that transition the doctor's attention from the patient directly onto the transferring of information into the system while in the mode of confrontation. The correspondence of data with the real world comes into significance, as the data may become unreliable due to the fact that it may be entered incorrectly (the doctor may have been focusing more upon data transmission, rather than what the patient actually stated), and additionally the use of EMR systems increase the risk of data becoming outdated, for it is solely up to the doctor's skills and attention that medical history, symptoms, side effects of the patient be kept at a steady consistency once entered into the system. Thus, although physicians and he

This article deals with the situation of Electronic Health Records in relation to Health Care. The use of this Information Technology according to the article has done very little to improve the health care service and those who have health care. Records and studies have proven that the use of this software has be associated with western states. Stanford researches have shown that the increase use of Electronic Health Records has not improved the quality of heath care services. This is caused because of the software's highly complicated software that is currently being interacted and used with doctors that aren't well trained with the system. Because of this lack of knowledge and skill of the system, doctors could not use all of the capabilities of the system. Overall, the article argues that the government should focus more on the quality of the Electronic Health Record software in relation with how doctors approach it, rather than just getting and replacing Health records with Electronic technology. There are a variety of stake holders in relation to the Electronic Health Record software. Those doctors who do not know how to fully interact with the system are the main stakeholders. The lack of training and the lack of full interaction with the system does not allow for the doctors to use the software to it's full capabilities. Another stakeholder would have to patience who have their medical records on these Electronic software systems. They have to rely on the doctors using the software to keep their data and to keep their records to date. However, another main stakeholder would be the government who is currently trying to create a better health care system by providing doctors with the Electronic Health Records. Because the government has good intentions to create a better health care system and a better medical situation for patience, they are being affected when they are unaware that this software is not being used to its full capabilities. Because of this,

the health care system is not changing or becoming better. Social and Ethical issues are presented in the Article. The first Social and Ethical Issue presented would have to be Reliability. The government is relying on these Electronic Health Record systems in order to create a better health care service for those in the United States. However, this reliability is currently being challenged when doctors and those who work in relation to the IT system are not able to work with it to its full capabilities because of its challenging and highly technical operations. Another Social and Ethical issue that arises is digital divide. The government is in pursuit to allow and get all doctors to use this system in order to remove the divide and create a better health care service. Solutions are given in the article, where current researches at Stanford say that they should focus on training those doctors to operate their systems or the Electronic Health Records to create a better health care service.

This article is regarding the use of Electronic Health Records, and digitalizing medical documents for the "betterment" of the medical staff, and the ease of use that databases provide as a solution to the IT issues that these facilities face. Many health care policy makers within the government, including President Obama, are advocating for the major shift in the use of electronic health records, and digitalizing patient information. However, only a small percentage of medical treatment offices have done so (approximately 17%). Basically, electronic health records document personal information of the patients, for example name, address, age, and medical issues that they face, making it much more easier for doctors and medical staff members to get into the use of e-prescriptions, providing treatment electronically. However, as information becomes digitalized, often times, major issues such as reliability of the IT equipment becomes and important aspect of the scenario. Major companies such as Dell and IBM are in the run to provide electronic health record databases for medical facilities to use. To these major stakeholders, these databases, when set-up properly, are basically a tool for health care providers to use; they can reduce costs and improve the type of care that is provided for patients. They also have the patient's entire medical history, and other medications, along with lab tests that if properly connected to databases, can ease the treatment guidelines. Thus the benefits include less trivial tests, reduced health related errors, and better care with less costs for patients. The IT systems that are provided, including faster networks with improved wireless connections and more financially affordable computers are what will basically be used within the medical facilities running on electronic health records with digitalized information. Also, there will be more space for these new machines to be placed in, since all

continued... the paper documents are now going to be taking no physical space; entirely stored digitally. However these devices do not provide the solution of reliability that staff members may face when on the wireless networks and/or dealing with digital data. One solution that the article provides is the new Internet-based service model, known as cloud computing, in which much of the computing firepower and data reside in remote data centers, which doctors, nurses and staff would use via the Web browsers on their personal computers. Through cloud-computing, there is a more reliable and efficient way for medical staff members to document data without having system failures, and also if they ever plan on outsourcing, they can easily work with the database online.

There is now a standard messaging protocol that allows health facilities to communicate any type of health records to each other, instantly, so any doctor that needs the data to his patient, has his own access to his health network, and thus his patient benefits to instant help.

Obama has given a vast quantity of money to impact the way health cares use the technology. In other words, he hopes that supporting them with financial help, any health care facility would be able to use the technology created. The advantage of the EHR (Electronic Health Records) would be that doctors and medical nurses wouldn't have to hassle in writing every single record of a patient, rather just simply put in the information in a database which other hospital or medical facilities can easily obtain. This alleviates the stress of scanning and faxing information to other doctors. The usage of EHR would impact people in actually being motivated to even use it to begin with, arising the issue of people and the machines. If the people simply choose not to update patient's records into the database, the patient will be greatly affected considering that it's the health status that is at risk. In order to motivate workers to actually use the EHR, is something that must be studied according to the article. But most people who do have access to using EHR, actually use it, will begin to notice the advantages very soon, noticing that business is actually getting better and receiving more patients on a daily basis since it's possible to attend their needs. With intellectual property on the side, since data presentations becomes important too in the waiting room, many patients begin to adapt to the way services are held at local medical facilities since it becomes easier to obtain information for both the patients and doctors.

In looking at this article and the other articles that I have post The main It IT system is a database to store the medical records of the patients of doctors. In theory this would be great for everyone. There will be less paper waste, and it would be easier to pull up patient information at the doctor's office. Its true potential can be achieved if each doctor's database can be connected to created to create a network so any doctor can access the patients information nationally or internationally. The primary issue however, is that the doctors have no standard. Some doctors are not willing to make a transfer because there are to many implications to actually becoming all digital. So that is the issue, since there are no standard the doctors are not willing to adapt. Now this issue can affect a number of stakeholder's. The doctors can see the benefits and draw backs of this standard issue. The doctor's who adopt EHR, actually save a lot of money in the long run, and are on better terms with insurance companies, in the cases where doctors don't use EHR and if a standard is developed they will suffer for it. They will not be able to process patient information quickly, and be on bad terms with insurance companies, and the U.S government(since the government wants to only have EHR or EMR). If a standard is not developed its the patient that will suffer the most. In this world that that we live in International travel is a common place, many people can get injured abroad a EMR can give life saving information to the doctors from the foreign country. This article displays the particular benefits of EMR, the article above me is the reasons doctors do not want to adopt to EMR, and the article before mine displays the governments interest to change all the paper records to EMR.

This article deals with the use of electronic health records in order to record medical information of patients. Congress wishes to pass a bill to enforce the use of electronic health records, however issues regarding the privacy of patients and information stored on these databases have arose. Electronic health records are used to record personal patient information such as name, age, address along with health sicknesses and symptoms. This also allows doctors to send e-prescriptions to the patient. However the computerization of health records triggers obvious privacy issues which prevent many hospitals to completely switch to using these electronic databases. Stakeholders of this technology include the patients whose medical information is being stored and sent on the databases, the hospitals and doctors that use the databases to track and send prescriptions to their patients, along with policy makers such as Congress and President Obama who promote the use of electronic health databases. The major stakeholder is the patient, whose private information is at risk by using these databases. Doctors can also use the electronic databases to send prescriptions to their patients for medicines or further appointments. Patient databases include sensitive personal information that may be at risk of being hacked or seen by an unauthorized user. In the article, solutions to these privacy issues have been proposed such as increased spending and investments in order to create solutions to privacy issues. Measures can be taken to safeguard medical information such as using encryption technology to secure private information that is sent online or kept on the hospital's computer database. This encryption would prevent unauthorized users from accessing and using patient information. However, in cases where this encryption technology fails to protect patient information, policies have been created that the patient must be notified if their personal information has been h

continued: have been created that the patient must be notified if their personal information has been hacked or seen by an outsider. Other policies have been enforced that give patients the ability to control and prevent hospitals from sending private information for research without their permission. These policies help prevent private patient information from being seen by unwanted individuals.