The use of e-health and mHealth Technology in the ED: An Emerging Tool for the Competent Physician Dr Paa Kobina Forson

Defining e-health and mhealth Overview Where are we in Ghana Contextualizing ehealth and mhealth Ehealth and mhealth in KATH The future…

Objectives Describe ehealth and mHealth Describe a global view of eHealth and mhealth Describe the use of ehealth and mhealth in medical care and research in Ghana

Definition eHealth has an ambiguous definition but the concept is simply using technology to improve the quality of healthcare WHO defines ehealth as the use of ICT for health e.g. treating patients, conducting research, educating the health workforce, tracking diseases and monitoring public health.

The 10 e’s of eHealth The ‘e’ prefix does not only refer to electronic but Efficiency Enhancing quality Evidenced based Empowerment Encouraging Education Enabling Extending Ethics Equity

mHealth This is a general term for the use of mobile phones and other wireless technology in medical care. NIH consensus group defines mhealth as the use of mobile and wireless devices to improve health outcomes, healthcare services and health research WHO defines it as an area of eHealth and it is the provision of health services and information via mobile technologies such as mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)

Overview

Overview Ehealth and mHealth has evolved over the past two decades New technologies have been developed to help interface healthcare with the public Ehealth does not only involve the use of the internet but computers interconnecting through a local area network (LAN)

Ehealth has revolutionized Health informatics Health informatics focuses on developing tools to improve healthcare whiles eHealth is designed to make it easier to share this valuable information WebMD, Medscape, Google Health are available ehealth tools Software used in the heath care and research settings

Overview -mHealth New field in ehealth According to International Communication Union, there are 5 billions mobile phone subscriptions in the world 85% of the world’s population has been covered by commercial wireless signal Mobile phone penetrance in developing countries is over 90% Most developing countries have at least one mHealth application

mHealth mHealth involves the use and capitalization on a mobile phone’s core utility of voice and short messaging service (SMS) as well as more complex functionalities and applications including general packet radio service (GPRS), third and fourth generation mobile telecommunications (3G and 4G systems), global positioning system (GPS), and Bluetooth technology.

mHealth Top six areas of mHealth applications are : Health care call lines/ call centres Emergency toll free telephone services Emergencies Mobile telemedicine Least frequently used tools ( less developed world) Health surveys Surveillance Awareness raising Decision support systems

Where are we in Ghana?

…….Ghana Over the past two decades, proliferation of telecommunications has brought with it increased innovations that has caught up with health Ehealth tools are available in Ghana EHRs are available but nothing at the national level EHRs are used to help with billing and NHIS claims

mHealth in Ghana GMA and Swtichboard in 2008 developed the MDNet. First in Africa Purpose to enable exchange of information among doctors Are you still on it?

Clinical and biomedical research Clinical research has shown the way in the use of ehealth and mhealth tools PDAs, OpenMRS, mobile phones for GPS mapping, wearable devices, mobile phones

KATH ED Since 2012, we have been taking steps to improve data collections, Clinical care through robust medical information Research

Electronic medical records

mHealth in the ED Tackling overcrowding

KATH ED Using mobile health to improve consulting team contacts Referral from hospitals. Vital signs Interconnect with National Ambulance Service Interventional studies for trauma victims, alcohol and drug abusers, stroke victims, Interface the ED with the public

Is it that Easy No Complex Costly BBTs don’t want new tricks Power issues in GH

The future Interoperability This is used to describe the capability of IT systems and software to communicate, exchange data and allow for a more thorough use and evaluation of medical information This will call into question national standards Ethical Issues Healthcare data security