Digital dictation systems. Discharge summaries. e-prescription systems, which doctors could check for contra-indications while prescribing medications.
It was all there at Smart Healthcare Live for Dick Vinegar of Guardian Professional, a division of Guardian News & Media in the UK.
But Vinegar reports that again this year, he was disappointed that the exhibition had no stands promoting telehealth, which can keep many people out of the hospital, and could wind up saving the NHS millions of pounds (and dollars).
Vinegar reports at his column at guardianprofessional.com, that most of the speakers at the conference dealing with telehealth applications and mobile working for NHS staff tended to be “somewhat lukewarm.”
He adds, “There is, apparently, evidence that patients with home-based monitors for chronic diseases can visit hospitals more often than they did before they received telehealth. And mobile health workers equipped with laptops, to make it unnecessary for them to waste time coming into the office, rather than visit patients, do in fact still come in, to have a chat with their mates.”
Vinegar says he believes that these downsides are symptoms of the failure of managers to change the culture of their workforce, to make the most of the new technology. “It seems a law of nature that health workers are more resistant to change than other members of the work force.”
Dealing with change can be difficult. In a clinical set-up, where timing is everything, converting to a new operating system while ensuring none of the routine work suffers may even be traumatic, says a story at ehow.com.uk.
That’s why it’s often found that the best of EHR systems generate the most vociferous resistance. A systematically implemented EHR system, however, can work wonders for the efficiency of the organization, the Web site says. It will transform the very way the clinical practice functions, resulting in lower administrative costs, and ultimately, an increased revenue flow.
Vinegar enjoyed one speaker, however, who he said had a vision of the future. “His name is Jim Ellam, and he does not work for the NHS, but for Staffordshire county council, where he is assistive technology project lead. He sees his task as keeping the old out of hospital as long as possible and allowing them to live independently. Nothing fancy or technical about this aim. And, of course, I couldn’t agree with him more. Anything that keeps me out of hospital is good.”
The devices Ellam uses seemed to Vinegar amazingly innovative and some of them, amazingly cheap. “One was a medication dispenser costing £150 ($240 US). Devices worn by Alzheimer sufferers, which would track where they were and warn their caregivers if they had left the house. These could cost only £5 ($8 US) per week. Sensors to detect whether they had turned the gas on and whether they had lit it. Implantable devices to act as defibrillators.”
Vinegar feels this technology may be good for everyone, including the finances of the NHS. Several speakers at Smart Healthcare Live reiterated that 70 percent of NHS budgets were devoted to the care of people over 50 with long-term conditions. “Cutting that 70 percent of cost seems kinda important to me. Nothing in the NHS costs more than hospitals,” said Vinegar in his column. “Therefore, anything that keeps me out of hospital is good for the finances of the NHS. And therefore, people like Jim Ellam, with innovative ideas about keeping stroke patients, dementia sufferers and many others, at home, could prove to save the healthcare services millions.”
Blogger Nick Goodwin feels that, for telehealth and telecare to become mainstream, a change in thinking is required. “First, the emerging knowledge and evidence must provide a convincing narrative on the business case for change, outlining the benefits that it could bring and providing some of the practical steps to effective implementation of technology-assisted integrated care.”
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Deborah DiSesa Hirsch is an award-winning health and technology writer who has worked for newspapers, magazines and IBM in her 20-year career. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
