Health 2.0

Health 2.0 is an emerging concept that includes the relationship between Web 2.0, e-Health and health care. It might be defined as “the use of a specific set of Web tools (blogs, Podcasts, tagging, search, wikis, etc) by actors in health care including doctors, patients, and scientists, using principles of open source and generation of content by users, and the power of networks in order to personalize health care, collaborate, and promote health education.” Some of its manifestations include telemedicine, mHealth and electronic health records. Moreover, the patient usage of internet resources to self-instruct about any health related topic falls under the Health 2.0 scope too. This utilization of web resources will enable patients for a better self management of their health, which will translate in better outcomes. Also, being able to navigate through so diverse resources available will empower the patients to learn which info is trustful and which is not, eventually. They will be better prepared to confront a doctor and avoid the authoritarian practicing pattern of some physicians. Hopefully, by doing this, customers would change the overall perception of medicine and establish a new era for health management: the e-Health era.

Sources:

Hughes B, Joshi I, Wareham J. Health 2.0 and Medicine 2.0: Tensions and Controversies in the Field, Journal of Medical Internet Research, 10(3): e23

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_2.0

e-Health and Narcotics Prescribing

This insight is about the new Florida law regarding prescribing narcotics. This law was approved in an effort to reduce the so-called “pill mill” and doctors shopping. From now on, each health care provider wishing to either prescribe or dispense (doctors/pharmacists) controlled substances, need to be registered and report to a statewide electronic database. This will allow a record keeping and tracking of patients who tend to abuse from controlled substances, in an effort to cut down the illegal and improper use of these drugs. The facts are that in Florida 7 people die each day from narcotic overdose, being Oxycodone the most abused one. Florida has 49 out of the 50 top narcotic prescribing physicians. These are the reasons to embrace and welcome the Florida new prescribing law and the transmission of health related information across the created database. This, certainly, will reduce the misuse of controlled substances, which are so detrimental for people, and set a starting point and pattern for illegal drug abuse. The inter discipline exchange of health related information will allow to diminish such indecorous aspect of Florida state.

Source:

http://www.stopoxy.com/governor-signs-bill-stop-florida-pill-mills-672011

http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Content/getdoc/daa6ef40-6b68-4770-b0b7-cc496a715b6b/2009-Drug-Report.aspx

e-Health and Politics

When president Obama took position as the 44^th president of the USA, his agenda also included moving the country toward the usage of electronic health records (EHR). He stated that this will help physicians to manage better patient’s profiles, improve quality of services and reduce possible medical errors. Some strategies to achieve this goal include:

·         Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP): is an effort of public and private entities to develop some standards among the different existing softwares. This will homogenize the used technology across the nation, allowing better health care outcomes.

·         Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN): this network purpose is to create a unified patient’s profile platform that patients and health care providers have access to. It would be accessible whenever it is needed for clinical decisions.

·         National e-Health Collaborative (NeHC): this is a project that enables the submission of possible prioritized initiatives related to e-health implementation.

Some of these initiatives are complete and others are in progress, which demonstrates the importance of this matter. It is very satisfactory that the president and his advisors foresee the impact that e-health “culture” may have in the individual and national level. It, certainly, will decrease the cost of health related errors, which will allow to direct those funds to providing health care to the more necessitated ones, as well as setting an example to other countries.

Source:

 NPCR-AERRO e-Health Initiatives, Retrieved form http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/npcr/informatics/aerro/activities/ehealth.htm

CeRAT

Many countries around the world suffer from poverty and that affect directly the access to health resources. Therefore, it is very important to find a way to make this access possible. Country e-Health Readiness Assessment Tool (CeRAT) is an example of how electronic transmission of data can aid in this emerging need. The authors validated this tool in order to assess the readiness of its use in 53 countries throughout the African continent. This study determined how well prepared were these countries to embrace the transmission of health information through technological ways and implement e-health solutions. The assessment included various aspects that ranged from population’s Internet/cell phone access to physicians and hospitals available. For the Low Income Countries (34), the result reflected that the majority have a stage 2 and 3 in readiness level, which means there is a lot that need to be done in order to integrate the informatics and communication technologies into play. The CeRAT was validated as an economical, practical, convenient and efficient tool by statistical analysis. The importance of such tool is to evaluate the readiness of the particular country to change from conventional health view to e-health. If the country is not ready, the efforts should be addressed toward enabling factors for e-health change. When the country is ready, e-health model can be applied, and this population will benefit enormously from “using the information and communication technologies for health”. This will improve overall wellbeing of the nations across the world, especially the more necessitated ones.   

Resource:

Chowdhury, M. F. U. (2009). Readiness to use e-health in africa---design, validation, and application of a country e-health readiness assessment tool. University of Calgary (Canada). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Retrieved from http://ezproxylocal.library.nova.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/304847160?accountid=6579 View this document in ProQuest

BabyBump Android Application

This week my husband and I found out something special: we are expecting our second child!!! After all the initial excitement, worries started to arise about baby health, development, etc. Therefore, I wanted to download some phone application to help me out in my future journey. I found and downloaded BabyBump application to my Android. This is an example of how women can engage in their own health management. This application allows pregnant women to track their pregnancy day by day, by months, or trimesters. By entering the first day of the last menstrual cycle, it will calculate the estimated due date, and guide future moms through the developmental changes occurring in their tummies. Moreover, it allows moms-to-be to keep a diary about daily feelings, energy, appetite, mood, craving, morning sickness, etc.  We all know how sensitive women become during this hormonal change. I also found very interesting the fact that pregnant woman can keep record of their weight (lb/kg), waist length (in/cm), doctors appointments, etc.  For me this is very useful to be managing the weight gain and prevent some weight related complications such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes. Another remarkable feature is that pregnant woman can add photos, so can keep a visual track of tummy growth. Lastly, there is a community blog which permits to future moms stay tuned and share worries, happiness, and questions about issues related to pregnancy condition. This is another example of Health Informatics Era and how beneficial it might be for positive patient’s health outcomes if used appropriately.

Incoming Informatic Era

Nowadays, watching the accelerated rate of technological inventions, I cannot stop thinking about us, health care professionals. All these new technologies can be used in patient benefit. If used appropriately, it might revolutionize the global health care industry. It will empower patients to manage specific disease states and confront doctors with acquired knowledge; therefore, health related outcomes can be improved dramatically. In our busy world, there is no time for long consultations or appointments. It would be very helpful if the patient is already knowledgeable and wants to be involved in their own health care. As an example of new concepts, I found that the idea behind the Electronic Health Record and similar applications are very interesting. It will help to keep track of patients profile and doctors visited (avoid therapy duplications, drugs interactions, etc). Integrating the power of the electronic resources to the health care field will help by bringing check points to the system to prevent errors, will engage patient in their health management, and will provide us, pharmacists, the opportunity to teach and guide our patients to achieve a better wellbeing. The future of health care profession is going in that direction and I think is important to be part of this incoming Era.

Ultrasound Anti-Plague Device

This device does not require charges, neither maintenance, does not use toxic chemistries nor it emits unpleasant scents. It works 24/7 and just must be connected to the wall. Its operation principle is based on the emission of ultrasonic waves of sound that affect the nervous system of the common plagues at home, interrupts the habits of communication and feeding until driving them away. The small mice and many insects communicate in ultrasonic frequencies; hence, the ultrasonic sounds of this device would have to be extremely annoying to them. To prevent adaptation of the plague to the ultrasound, this device does not use a constant frequency; it continuously varies the frequency of the ultrasound in a sequential form. These ultrasound waves cannot be heard by humans, although some domestic animals can be disturbed. This apparatus does not affect the operation of other electronic devices either. This apparatus is effective for mosquitoes, fleas, flies, crickets, ants, termites, etc, which make it very important in disease prevention, epidemics, etc. We live in South Florida where it’s constantly raining; therefore this might be a good option for disease prevention and health promotion.