Ch 52 2

 ICT is used in many ways in the provision and management of healthcare services:  Hospital administration  Medical training  Maintenance of patient records  Communications between doctors/patients/hospitals  Diagnosis  Monitoring  Surgeries

You should have an understanding of a wide range of work-related ICT applications and their effects, including applications in medicine  doctors’ information systems  hospital and pharmacy records  Monitoring  expert systems for diagnosis

 We are looking at the processes in a logical order, considering the advantages and disadvantages of using ICT in each one.

We have looked at the following:  Patient record systems  The data that is held on patients  The advantages of computerizes systems over paper-based ones  How appointments are managed  Electronic booking systems  The use of ICT in diagnosis

 The use of Expert Systems for diagnosis  ICT in Ambulance Control  ICT in Medical treatments

Expert systems allow medical staff with limited medical knowledge (e.g. nurses) to get advice from a computer 'expert'

 Medical staff inputs patient's symptoms (or answers questions about them)

 The inference engine searches the knowledge base (a collection of medical knowledge) to find possible diagnoses

 The system outputs a list of possible diagnoses, and treatments

 Used by?  Does it replace a doctor?  Supports doctor  Allows consultation  Massive amount of info: everybody is different! Data from many experts  One symptom can have many explanations  Data can be kept up to date  Always available 24/7  Can be used at a distance

 Cost  Training  Responses must be accurate  Life or death: no room for ambiguity of responses  Questions have to be VERY carefully framed  No human interaction  Reasoning only as good as rules it is given

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 When you phone for an ambulance one will be sent to you as quickly as possible.  This can only happen because the ambulance control centre have a system that lets them know exactly where each ambulance is at any given time.

 Which ambulances are already carrying a patient to hospital  Which are already on their way to another emergency.  Which available ambulance is the closest to you.

 Ambulances use GPS Satellite Navigation systems to locate places and drive to emergency calls quickly. This can be a great help especially if a crew isn't familiar with an area.  BUT GPS Sat-Navs are not perfect - they sometimes provide a poor route and so ambulance drivers will rely on their own expert local knowledge to get there as easily as possible - minutes count!

 Once a diagnosis has been made then the correct method of treatment can be chosen.  Technology is used to treat many medical and surgical conditions.

 If a patient is too ill to breathe for themselves, perhaps after major surgery or an accident, then a ventilator is used.  A ventilator is a mechanical device which pumps oxygen in and carbon dioxide out of a patient's lungs.  Embedded processors monitor the oxygen levels being given to the patient, the amount of 'breaths' per minute and the pressure of each 'breath' (too much pressure could burst the lungs).

 If a patient has an irregular heartbeat then a pacemaker can be fitted during an operation.  A pacemaker is a small, battery operated titanium device which is placed into the chest area.  A lead runs into the heart chamber. The tip of the lead contains an electrode which can send a small electrical pulse to stimulate the heart in beating at a regular rate.

 For centuries, if people lost a limb such as an arm or a leg then they could be given an artificial replacement. Years ago they were very crude and were mainly used just to make the person look 'normal'.  However, advances in technology has not only been improving the way that artificial limbs look but more recently their things that they can do.  Limbs have been developed which can be stimulated by electrical impulses sent by the user's brain, thus allowing them some movement.