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Global Observatory for eHealth

  WHO > Programmes and projects > Global Observatory for eHealth > eHealth Intelligence Report > 2009
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21 April 2009

eHealth Worldwide

:: Canada's e-health journey and HIMSS Analytics' Canada Information and Communications Technology Study (2009 - Healthc Q.) NoFull Text
In spring 2007, HIMSS Analytics began developing its first Canada Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Study. Less than one year later, 38 RHAs, DHAs and HAs are already on board, with some 20 more scheduled to participate by year's end. Why are so many Canadian provincial healthcare delivery organizations now participating in HIMSS Analytics' Canada ICT Study? The answer is tied to the character of the HIMSS study, the value offered to all participants and specific Canadian healthcare issues that are addressed by the study.

:: Germany:E-health in emergency medicine - the Research project Med-on-@ix. (2009 - Anaesthesist.)
There is a need for new strategies to face current and future problems in German Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Lack of quality management and increasing costs in the presence of a deficit of EMS physicians are typical challenges, resulting in an increasing deficit in medical care. In addition, information and communication technology used in German EMS is out of date. The physician-powered EMS has to be modernized to increase quality and show measurable evidence of its effectiveness.

:: India: Connected Healthcare: Concept and Feasibility (April 2009 - eHealthMagazine)
The healthcare system generates enormous amounts of information everyday, and managing it is a big challenge for all the healthcare entities. Over time, healthcare entities have understood the value of technology-based systems to support their processes, functions, streamline operations and manage information generated. For this, all entities have made significant investments in IT in order to improve efficiency and productivity.

:: Portugal: Trends of internet use for health matters in Portugal: 2005-2007 (2009 - Acta Med Port.)
Health professionals are still considered as the most important source of health information but their perceived importance has decreased 10% (IC 95%, -12.6, -7.6) between 2005 and 2007, the higher negative variation in this period. Family, friends and colleagues have registered the higher positive variation. In 2007, the Internet was rated as the most important source of health information by those using the Internet for health or illness purposes. In Portugal, the Internet assumes an increasingly important role as a source of health information. Moreover, it seems it is being promoting equitable access to health information. Increasingly challenging situations are expected during the medical consultation.

:: UK: BMA launches consultation on how to improve GP services (1 April 2009 - Healthcare IT)
Laurence Buckman, MD, Chairman of the BMA's GPs Committee, said: "We want to gather examples of good and innovative practice across all areas of service, such as how practices use telephony systems, their use of the internet for repeat prescription ordering or appointment booking, or how they have improved communication between practices and their patients.

:: US: Interoperable electronic prescribing in the United States: a progress report. (April 2009 - Health Affaires)
Although the vast majority of U.S. physicians still handwrite prescriptions, adoption of electronic prescribing is slowly growing. Major barriers to adoption remain, including the inability to electronically submit prescriptions for controlled substances and confusion about standards for data exchange. Federal and state governments and private insurers are using payment and policy incentives to boost e-prescribing because they still believe in its promise for improving the quality and efficiency of health care. However, additional efforts and further investments are needed to reap the benefits of e-prescribing on a national scale.

Scientific Articles

:: Health information technology: dispatches from the revolution. (April 2009 - Health Affairs)
Countries around the world are increasingly employing health information technology (IT). These tools hold the promise of powerful health system breakthroughs from Johannesburg to Jakarta. While implementers multiply, a global e-health consensus framework is beginning to take shape among donors, governments, industries, researchers, and policymakers. As plans are formulated in the United States for substantial new federal investments in health IT, this paper details common threads in national and global health IT discourse. Among them are the need for strong stakeholder engagement, workable policy solutions, funding and donor coordination, and the imperative for adequately addressing standards and interoperability.

:: Exploring antecedents of consumer satisfaction and repeated search behavior on e-health information (2009 - J Health Commun.)
E-health information has become an important resource for people seeking health information. Even though many studies have been conducted to examine the quality of e-health information, only a few studies have explored the effects of the information seekers' motivations on the perceived quality of e-health information

:: User information seeking behaviour: Perceptions and reality. An evaluation of the WHO Labresources Internet portal (2009 - Inform Health Soc Care.)
This article discusses the evaluation of a WHO Internet portal: the Labresources website. The evaluation investigates user satisfaction with the resource, usability, demographic information about users and how well they could complete specific tasks using the website and compared this with the actual online behaviour revealing a number of discrepancies

:: Using the internet for health-related activities: findings from a national probability sample. ( 2009 - J Med Internet Res.)
eHealth tools on the Internet have the potential to help people manage their health and health care. However, little is known about the distribution and use of different kinds of eHealth tools across the population or within population subgroups. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and predictors of participation in specific online health-related activities

Publications

History of Telemedicine, Rashid L. Bashshur, PhD and Gary W. Shannon, PhD (April 2009)
provides a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the evolution of telemedicine from ancient Greece to the present time. It places the development of this field in the context of the never ending quest for providing equitable access to health care and re-casting the medical care landscape, while trying to assure quality and contain cost. The book describes the origin of modern telemedicine in experiments such as those by Willem Einthoven’s 1905 long distance transfer of electrocardiograms through the pioneering era of teleradiology and telepsychiatry of the 1950s, its coming of age in the 1970s, its maturation in the 1990s, and finally the recent transformation and adoption by the mainstream.

Articles

:: Cash crunch, cultural resistance "curbing" e-health progress (13 April 2009 - ITBusiness)
Cultural resistance - not the least from healthcare workers - and a huge shortfall of public funds continue to be major obstacles to the widespread adoption of e-health programs in North America. Canadian and U.S.thought leaders in healthcare transformation discuss these challenges and how to overcome them. INCLUDES VIDEO.

:: Global Telemedicine Market to Exceed $18 Billion by 2015, According to New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. (6 April 2009 - PRWeb)
Driven by aging population, increased medical requirements in remote locations and technology advancements, world market for telemedicine is projected to exceed $18 billion by the year 2015. Application of telemedicine is expanding virtually across all the medical areas. Telemedicine currently finds application in majority of medical domains including radiology, cardiology, dermatology, psychiatry, dentistry, pediatrics and pathology, among others

:: International healthcare IT standards groups sign agreement (6 April 2009 - Healthcare ITNews)
The International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation and Health Level Seven will work together on "common, timely health informatics standards." HL7 is a global healthcare IT standards group made up of more than 500 corporate members representing 90 percent of the IT systems in the healthcare industry. IHTSDO encourages the use of standardized terminologies in healthcare - particularly, SNOMED CT.

:: Citizens' Privacy Must Become Priority in Digital Age, Says EU Commissioner Reding (15 April 2009 - eHealthnewsEu)
"European privacy rules are crystal clear: a person's information can only be used with their prior consent. We cannot give up this basic principle, and have all our exchanges monitored, surveyed and stored in exchange for a promise of 'more relevant' advertising! I will not shy away from taking action where an EU country falls short of this duty,".