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CHANGING THE FUTURE of healthcare depends on new digital technologies, that was the message at the Digital Health and Life Science Trade Summit yesterday.
Seven health care entrepreneurs were chosen to showcase their ideas from hundreds of international applications. The event, organised by HealthXL, a global health accelerator, linked up teams who have innovative ideas on how to transform global healthcare systems with digital health hubs, in order to explore possible collaborative opportunities.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Senate President Therese Murray attended the event in in HealthXL headquarters in Dublin. “In Massachusetts, we believe that health is a public good and that everyone should have access to affordable, quality care,” said Governor Patrick, adding “to deliver on that goal, we must invest in innovative solutions, new technologies and global partnerships”.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Martin Kelly from IBM, one of the event sponsors, said connecting and collaboration were key to finding modern day health care solutions. He said:
We can all learn from each other. Nearly every country has some sort of financial problem or administrative problem around their health care systems, Ireland is not unique. There are things we can learn from different countries. That is why it is so important for us to come together to encourage innovative solutions.
Digital solutions for healthcare
He said there was a wide spectrum of great ideas at the event. An African team are looking at removing paper work from our health care systems. ‘Claimsync’ wants to replace paper based patients’ records, with a move to process all medical records electronically. “This would free up staff that can get bogged down in administrative work,” said Kelly.
From Australia, ‘Go Act’ are looking to develop web-based software solutions for mental health professionals and their clients. “Clients who present to their GP and get sent to a clinician can often experience a delay until their next appointment, so they want to create software that will keep the client connected. Mental health is such a huge issue here in Ireland, so it’s great to see new and interesting ideas that will help,” said Kelly.
Other products that aim to improve productivity is the Nursebuddy Tool, which is designed to help nurses manage their day-to-day jobs using tablet devices. A team in Canada came up with the idea of using real-time decision making to put cancer patients in control of their own care.
Yesterday’s event is building up to the HealthXL Global Gathering on May 30, where investors from all over the world will come to Dublin and teams will pitch their ideas, hoping for investment.
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Getting rid of paper based patient records would be welcome, you would need the enigma machine to figure out what some doctors write
Yep James your right, system is a mess!
This is most definitely the way forward to create efficiencies in healthcare. Technology can save nurses/doctors time doing admin and free them up for actual medical work.
Yeah that’d work. No confidentiality issues when their iPad gets nicked (inevitable).
A long as the info is kept in a secure ‘cloud’ & just read on iPad not an issue.
If its lost remove access. Paper is not better, that have been lost too, remember all the records found in rubbish tips too.
I’d say it would be progress!
I’m guessing patient info is stored centrally, and not on the iPad. iPads come with a self destruct if necessary (Find My iPhone applies to iPads too).
There are apps for corporate email which need a password to get into and run independently of the iPhones native apps – it’s entirely protected and access can be blocked centrally if required. A similar approach can be taken for this.
Losing a folder full of paper is a much higher risk. iPads are a no brainer to stop double entry in our hospitals – the nurses first write everything down and then type it all up in a back room – madness!
@WanderArch. I’m not quite sure if it’s a “self destruct” a-la Mission Impossible. More like a remote wipe feature. Any-ho, our current system is Victorian. Not only that, but if you want to look at the chart of any inpatient in an Irish hospital, just put on a shirt and tie, look important, and just walk onto the ward and take it. Nobody will object or question.
Self destruct mission impossible style would be class! But no, you’re right, it’s just a wipe that happens. I couldn’t think of the word at silly o’clock.
Obviously it would be data protected
Yes great in theory
We have high tech paperless documentation but patients have no bed, nurses, midwives, drs etc:
Personally it would be great but we need to get back to basics 1st
What about the €39,000,000 the Dept of health spent on Plans for the New National Children’s hospital which they scrapped
No one complained about that
APPROPRIATE technology in healthcare can be a benefit to all but it has to be just that, appropriate, and it is no replacement for competency, skill and compassion. Give me a good nurse/doctor motivated and empowered to their job any day over a less trained, poorly paid, demotivated colleague with an ipad!!
..great news for the Private Sector with more public moneys invested with these companies
Royston I think we the people who gain from this, I think people forget that the Public Sector serves the people. Any improvement in accountability, transparency and service quality is surely welcomed.
Why don’t you tell ms noone what you think? mailto: catherine.noone@oir.ie
So whats new in the health service these days,not much it looks like,people waiting in hallways on trollies,bad management,self serving union interest instead of the public interest,just a normal day really.
Thank you all for the interest and honest feedback!
NurseBuddy is born in Finland, the land of F-Secure and SSH so no worries about the security. As “Bo11ocks_to_this” already wrote, the security is actually easier to handle and human errors easier to control with mobile devices than with paper.
We are actually focusing in home care and home nursing, you may get sligthly wrong idea when reading the article. Hope you find this interesting!
http://www.nursebuddy.co (for home care companies)
http://www.keepconnected.co (for families with someone receiving care at home)
Uncle mort wish I had time to play solitaire on a computer whilst on duty never mind going to loo
Are u for real
See above
Technology in healthcare is a positive step but before it can be a reality the Government / health service needs to put some requirements in place. We can’t have hospital’s relying on technology without proper backup systems and the relevant laws on patient records need to be amended to ensure that records are tamper proof and admissible in reviews of patient care.
Sunday Times had an item last Sunday which mentioned how the HSE leave info on public computers. How will patients be looked after while nurses etc play solitiare on these yokes ?
Have u spent time in an acute hospital recently, nurses and doctors don’t usually have time to spend playing solitaire at working. Too busy saving lives contrary to some beliefs
@O Riordan Angela. I have and may have to again and I want the same care that nurses have always given and not an IT expert to hold me hand and reassure me when things are though. Too much unnecessary work is being forced on ward staff who have too much to do as it is and it’s just covering up for the mis-management at the top. I went to the nurses station in one ICU and could not believe the amount of paperwork that they had to deal with and most of it was bureaucratic BS and not what they were best at, that is nursing. This latest stunt will just mean another level of time wasting. I think my being sarcastic about the system [not the ward staff] has been misread.
Paper work has certainly increased for nurses over the last two decades, mostly due to litigation. Accountability and transparency is paramount. But surely having access to all the patients records in one place will make care of the patient safer and time saving chasing up results, doctors notes prescriptions etc. Referrals could be carried out on the spot so less delays. I think it the IPAD or similar device would increase efficiency, nurses would spend less time on phones chasing results, appointments etc. It is a huge undertaking to set such a system up, so it won’t happen overnight.
Uncle Mort
Chance would be a fine thing ;) The temptation to lock yourself in the loo would be very high lol :)
I got you were being sarcastic but it is the lowest form of wit you left yourself wide open. Guilty of it myself here ;)
Electronic records! Wow really cutting edge!
It would be great for efficiency and all that but would it not cost an absolute fortune! Who’s going to pay for it? Plus I’m sure there will be training needed, replacement of damaged tablets etc and would these need to be replaced in the future when they are obsolete.
Brilliant idea but we’ve no budget for that.
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