Healthcare Professionals and Information Technology

4

1.2 Health care for patients

Apart from assisting medical practitioners in performing their tasks, healthcare services provided to the end users meaning the patients is a matter that need to be taken seriously as their comfort in receiving the treatment must be given top priority. Providing a practical solution is not the only challenge faced as the important issue that must be addressed is the acceptance and receptiveness of the patients. Providing patients with healthcare solutions by utilizing IT from the viewpoint of providers and patients is a challenge to endeavor. However, some patients are not receptive in compliant to technology to maintain good health, especially the elderly and children. An effort to persuade the patients in accepting the advantages of IT in healthcare as- sistance might take account of security, privacy and liability issues. For instance, patients must be assured that their personal home monitoring and tracking records at home are secured and their records are not accessed in any way without their permis- sion. It is worth to briefly note the advantages of telemedicine technology to the elderly. As the issue of an ageing nation has become a global phenomenon affecting a lot of countries, natu- rally, more care and monitoring should be given to this particu- lar age group. The utilization of wireless communication in the care of the elderly has multiplied rapidly during the last few years and is directly proportional to the maturity of related technologies. The evolution of technology has produced more affordable, portable, compact and user-friendly devices which has made services more affordable. According to Stanford 2002, SAHA et al 2003, ALEMDAR et al 2010. as technol- ogy advances extensively, services that are more automated and comprehensive will be made available to the population of sen- ior citizens in the near future. New innovation would result in unnoticeable and comfortably worn interconnected devices and sensors. Apart from that, the device can also be worn without restricting the user’s movement and wearing condition will not 5 affect its reliability. Another crucial aspect of the design is it will be user-friendly as the training and technical difficulty in using the device will be kept minimum especially for children and elderly. This will be a simple ‘plug-and-play’ device. The system can be installed by a technician in the patient’s home and from then onwards, the device will be fully automated apart from scheduled maintenance that are unavoidable for example replacement of battery and calibration. As an end user, a patient’s perspective on telemedicine is to de- liver medical services remotely. Telemedicine would be an ad- vantage and provides convenience to patients as it reduces clinical visits. Patients can be given full medical attention at the comfort of their own home through the utilization of IT. As a whole, IT has benefited the general public tremendously in providing medical support over the past few decades. The re- cent development in technology has produced faster computers and wider bandwidth which enabled a wider range of services to more users. As an example, during the early days, a request for medical assistance can be made by dialing a physician in a clinic through a fixed telephone line. Nowadays, Voice over Internet Protocol VoIP technology enables a video call to be made anytime, anywhere and both the caller and the physician are not needed to be at fixed locations in order to facilitate communication. This is an example of the advancement of IT in assisting healthcare and further examples will be discussed throughout the research. Even though, there are many ad- vantages, there are also problems faced by different sectors for instance the developers, healthcare management, authorities and practitioners etc. in serving the patients. The following paragraph will discuss challenges faced by dif- ferent people; from the initial planning stage, continuing maintenance and to the final rollout stage. The IT perspective is more concerned with the feasibility as to the capability of the 6 current technology in assisting the end users, next the practicali- ty and cost considerations. As an example, a program that de- creases back pain issues among school children by ensuring their back packs are ergonomically prepared. Although the ad- vantages of the program are obvious as it reduces the chances of the participating children from suffering from back pain the question that arises is whether the entire program is practical. In solving this simple question, an in-depth understanding in the technology involved is required. The standpoints and concern from various affecting parties should also be given due consid- erations. The parties concerned include participants’ parents in granting approval to their children’s participation, the children participating in the study, engineers who developed the moni- toring system, funding bodies that provide necessary resources and clinical staff who analyze the captured data.

1.2.1 Technical Perspective

Figure 1.1 illustrates an example of a system consisting of sen- sors and data communication network which can be developed by biomedical engineers based on the prerequisites suggested by the clinical staff. This system consists of numerous sensors that form a network which is linked to an analysis system through a facility and stored in electric patient record EPR, monitored by mandatory networks and system administration tools. This enables the extraction of various patient data. This section will provide insights into what is involved sparing the in-depth technical details. The evaluation of the technical practicality and feasibility is done by the engineers. The main technical challenge to be addressed is whether the data captured is usable. Factors such as the origin of the signal detected by the sensors, signal transmitted and lastly received influences the usage of the data obtained. Therefore, it is upmost important that the sensors be correctly and securely attached to the partic- 7 ipant’s body at relevant points. The sensors used should be pre- cise enough to detect even the slightest leaning of the body. However, it should not be too sensitive to the extent of detect- ing vibrations from unknown or irrelevant sources. Figure 1.1: simple biosensor network FONG et al 2011 Then, we need to assess the compatibility of the sensors in per- forming specific applications. Examples of some challenges which are related to the sensors will be whether the size of the sensor is too large to be attached to a child or whether it will cause discomfort. Another question to be asked is whether common items in between the children and the backpack for example: clothing can affect the readings. What is the method that can be used for sending out the recorded data to be pro- cessed and analyzed has to be thought of carefully. Moreover, will distance between sensors because interference of one an- other if the sensors are placed too near each other has to be in- vestigated. Assuming the sensors are well-design and can overcame all the questions listed, the system is now capable of capturing data that would describe the behavior of the children while carrying the backpacks.