AMA VICDOC Spring 2023 - Magazine - Page 21
WE HAVE PROBABLY HAD MORE ISSUES WITH
BREACHES OF PATIENT PRIVACY WITH HARD
TO TRACE PAPER BEING LEFT AROUND AND
PHOTOCOPIED THAN WE DO WITH OUR DIGITAL
INFORMATION, WHERE WE CAN TRACE A
DIGITAL FINGERPRINT.
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There is concern that the wider the access
to digital health data we provide, the greater
the risk that someone will access and use
information inappropriately. I think we can
be reassured that the existing checks and
balances that are in place seem to be working
well. One interesting suggestion I’ve heard
that may be worth considering is to let health
consumers have free access to their own
records and see who has been accessing
them to provide a degree of reassurance.
DEVELOPING A TECHNOLOGY AND THEN LOOKING
FOR A USE FOR IT MAY POTENTIALLY CREATE A
PROBLEM THAT DOES NOT CURRENTLY EXIST.
IT IS LIKE PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE.
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I am also concerned about the potential that
technology brings to lessen incidental human
interaction. We are finding that our junior
medical staff are not spending enough time
on the wards as they can complete many of
their tasks elsewhere. This may be affecting
the building of professional relationships
that are so important to healthcare.
I USE TECHNOLOGY AS A TOOL IF IT WILL IMPROVE
MY ABILITY TO BE EFFECTIVE, EFFICIENT AND
BUILD GOOD WORKING RELATIONSHIPS.
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It’s very important to understand the
limitations of technology. If there is
important information a GP needs to know
when a patient leaves hospital, get them
on the phone and have the discussion then
provide the patient with something in writing
that they can hold in their hand. If you
need to have a difficult conversation with
a colleague, do it face to face if you can.
IF WE APPLY THE SAME RIGOROUS ETHICAL
AND SCIENTIFIC PROCESSES TO AI AS WE
HAVE TO OTHER ASPECTS OF MEDICINE,
WE CAN BE OPTIMISTIC.
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We are starting to see the benefits of
using mobile devices rather than having
clinicians stuck behind a desk. Decision
support tools, including those driven
by AI rather than simple algorithms
are showing potential but are probably
still the subject of research rather
than established and accepted parts of
everyday practice. The ability to replicate
autonomous human movement is a
long way behind the ability to replicate
autonomous human thinking, so those
of us in medical specialties with a large
procedural component are unlikely to see
any significant impact for some time.
THE JURY IS IN: SINGLE VENDOR HEALTH
INFORMATION SYSTEMS THAT COVER AS MUCH
AS POSSIBLE ARE THE WAY TO GO FOR
ACHIEVING TRULY INTEGRATED HEALTHCARE.
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But there is still a lot of work to do to
join all the dots and fully digitise health
consumers' information. The introduction
of digital health and e-records had
some bad press, particularly overseas in
countries that have been early adopters
and where lessons have been learnt.
Australia has come on board later and
our experience has been relatively positive.
The initial change is very disruptive and
challenging. There is only so much that
can be done to mitigate this. Even so,
there are not many people who would
advocate going back to paper. We now
have the more exciting opportunity for
iterative and continuous improvement.
Roles like mine are fundamental for
driving this process and realising
the ultimate potential of what we
have created.
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