The following really interesting article came to my attention a few days ago.
Healthcare and Emerging Rich Web Technologies – The WEB 2.0/Semantic Web Challenge and Opportunity
Over the years, healthcare organizations have had to respond to many different changes – from advances in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to the emergence of concepts such as managed care and telemedicine. Healthcare is fast becoming one of the most competitive and value added industries worldwide with many technology driven developments in diagnosis, treatment, care provision, patient monitoring and healthcare infrastructure.
One such technology is the Internet. The Internet has transformed various other industries by enabling the widespread sharing of information and allowing the creation of new business relationships. Public information increases on web sites, and consumers use the Internet to find information, communicate with friends and family, plan trips, and shop. It is expected that both the scope of applications and the number of Internet users will continue to grow as technologies improve and new online applications continue to emerge.
In healthcare, the Internet – with its powerful penetration and scalability – has the ability to empower patients, support information exchange, and consequently result in new operational strategies, business and care delivery models. To date, the use of the Internet in healthcare has been limited to e-commerce and e-mail communication between doctors. The Internet's potential, however, is increasingly being harnessed to transform healthcare delivery at the patient level. From growing email use by patients and consumer e-commerce in the drug market, to rising electronic procurement by hospitals, Internet diagnosis and eHealth, the use of the Internet in active healthcare delivery is rapidly gaining ground. Patients create online support communities, search for medical information, and share their experiences, while health care professionals get access to the latest information in their field, consult with their colleagues, and communicate with their patients. Indicative of the impact of Internet in healthcare is the fact that almost every healthcare business – from insurers to hospitals to pharmaceutical companies – has a dedicated Web site.
With the emergence of next generation rich web technologies, such as WEB 2.0 and Semantic web, the creation of a more dynamic and responsive online experience is within reach. This will, in turn, have an effect on how the web is used within the greater healthcare domain, presenting both new challenges and new opportunities.
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Conclusion
Health-related activities can benefit enormously from the Internet. The large number of stakeholders in healthcare – general practitioners, specialists, nurses, patients, administrators, researchers, and others - can take advantage of the Internet and its capability to support communication, and improve access to health information, thus forging new relationships among those stakeholders. Although a number of technical, organizational, and policy issues need to be addressed, especially in areas such as security, reliability, and timely transmission of information, the Internet has the potential to improve the quality of care, expand access to it, and reduce its cost.
Next generation healthcare information systems will not only allow the exchange of data between heterogeneous systems, but will also enable the representation of complex medical contents. Intelligent search engines, virtual agents and very specific data analysis tools will process semi-structured data and will help make the latest, quality assured information available for health care professionals, executives and patients. Health information generators will search for individual person-centred information in the web, using person-specific information from the EHR and will design health promotion programmes based on the latest evidence-based, quality-assured knowledge.
However, Rich Web Technologies should be seen as a double-edged sword. The main opportunities lie in the fact that consumers will have even better possibilities to find, aggregate and appraise health information than today. On the other hand, one might fear that this may lead to a further over reliance on external information, a process of disintermediation between patients and healthcare professionals and erosion of the patient-physician relationship.
Such concerns will however not stop the development of these technologies, as health information is still some of the most sought after on the web. People will not stop short of using these technologies for health products and services, researching the attributes and reputation of health products and services with a far greater sophistication than on today's web. The World Wide Web as it exists today might be just at the beginning of a health informatics revolution.
The complete long and informative article is found here:
This is a good perspective on these technologies that recognises the human dimension that must be addressed as well as clearly understanding the complexity of health care and the difficulties associated with the successful use of technology within the sector.
A valuable briefing and update.
David.
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