THE SUNDAY GLEANER, MARCH 6, 2022 | NEWS B10 ONE OF the best uses of technology in healthcare has been to facilitate the possibility of the connection of a holistic healthcare network that includes all services and caregivers and that has no geographic limitations. A truly connected system goes beyond hospital care to incorporate full patient care wherever that patient may be – at home or anywhere in the world. There are two important things to consider when looking at a fully connected system. First, the hospital, health centre and private medical practice have to be able to connect with each other so that patient care can be seamless. Second, there needs to be a similar technology based network at home. At the health facility level, the electronic medical record (EMR) must be fully accessible to all caregivers that the patient has. In order for that to happen, a scalable hospital information management system, which comprises both clinical and administrative modules that can fulfil all the needs of the health or medical facility needs would be the most ideal choice. This system should be able to work for large or small medical offices as well. We have one such system so far at the University Hospital of the West Indies. Through this, once others have come on board with similar remote services, we can develop a national EMR. Government and private facilities would have to be a part of this health ecosystem so that patients can receive holistic and consistent care. One of the problems we have today is the fact that a patient can go to five different medical facilities and each will have its own set of records. There is no easy way to bring them all together. We have seen time and time again where a hospital can have three or more different paper records for the same patient. This can adversely affect the quality of care that the patient receives. AT-HOME CARE Outside of the healthcare institution setting, at-home care is critical to both treatment and prevention. Ideally, there must also be a link between institutional care and care at home or within a community. The concept of the intelligent home or I-home was touted a few years ago in a demonstration at a health technology conference. The principle is to make the home into an electronic health haven that connects to a doctor’s office or hospital so that patient care can be continuous outside of a facility. It also incorporates wellness and prevention. The thing about the I-home is that existing and simple technology that we may already have can be incorporated into this concept. They can be from different sources but must work together harmoniously. For example, a patient can use remote care devices such as heart and diabetes monitors from various manufacturers and link them to a doctor’s office. Other devices such as those often used for entertainment can also be incorporated, such as an Amazon Alexa device to get information about health conditions and medication. An electronic pill dispenser, connected to that can remind a person about times to take pills or if they missed or going low on their prescription. All of this would be brought together through a telemedicine connection with a physician. The telemedicine platform would allow the patient and doctor to speak about concerns, decide on follow-ups and do consistent monitoring. The doctor has this option first before determining whether the patient needs to be seen face to face. INTEROPERABILITY To bring this all together, there needs to be interoperability at all levels so that they can connect with each other seamlessly. Connectivity is critical in healthcare technology and interoperability makes this possible. Each part must be able to communicate with the other to be able to reap the full benefits of digitisation. The success of connected healthcare will lie in our ability to share information across time and space with other organisations, sources, devices whether local or foreign, in real time as needed. Once we are able to achieve this, we may see a tremendous improvement in terms of both access and general population health. Technology in healthcare is moving forward across the globe and we must embrace it and seek to reap all the benefits that it has to offer. n Doug Halsall is the chairman and CEO of Advanced Integrated Systems. Email feedback to doug. halsall@gmail.com and editorial@ gleanerjm.com (AP): THE PANDEMIC, mass shootings, natural disasters, terror attacks. There’s been plenty of tragedy and anxiety for parents to sort through with their kids. Add Russia’s escalating invasion of Ukraine to the list. With events rapidly unfolding on TV and across social media, child development experts urge parents to check in with children of all ages but not to worry if those conversations are brief. “For children under the age of seven, it might just be acknowledging that something is happening between Ukraine and Russia and ask, ‘Have you heard anything?’ Take the child’s lead,” said Janine Domingues, a clinical psychologist at the non-profit Child Mind Institute in NewYork. For all ages, honesty is paramount, she and others said. “Overall, just provide reassurance, that this is what we know right now. Let them know you don’t know all the answers but here are some places we can go,” Domingues said. Around the globe, from the United States to Western Europe, Japan to South Korea and Australia, countries have denounced the Kremlin as the fighting raised fear, sending stocks tumbling and oil prices surging. The US and the rest of the world slapped Russia with some of the broadest and toughest financial penalties the world’s largest economy can muster. IT’S SCARY Karina Serio, 16, in Cecil County, Maryland, hopes to major in Russian and European studies when she goes to college. For now, as a high school sophomore, she helps Ukrainian kids with their English through an online volunteer organization and moderates a group chat of up to 600 Ukrainian youth at a time on the Telegram app. “I think it’s scary,” she said. “You know, right now I’m sitting here in my nice house and there’s people my age sitting in their apartments listening to sirens go off. They can’t sleep. They don’t know what to do. And I feel bad, like, what can I do?” Janice Torres in Brooklyn is among parents already fielding questions from their kids. “She asked why they are having a war? And if the kids are in school,” Torres said of her 8-year-old daughter. “She saw me crying as I watched a video of a dad letting his kid go on a bus. She told me that she’s gladAmerica is not at war. She doesn’t want to go on a bus without us.” Dr Gene Beresin, executive director of the free online resource hub The Clay Center forYoung Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said young children, tweens and even older teens have some basic questions in common when it comes to war, whether they verbalize them or not: Am I safe? Are you, the people taking care of me, safe? How will this affect my day-to-day life? Though the invasion, for US kids, is playing out several thousand miles from home, social media and television coverage can make it seem just next door. “Many, many, many children who witnessed 9/11 on TV, who witnessed the Oklahoma bombing on TV, who witnessed the Challenger disaster on TV, got posttraumatic stress disorder. The media is huge,” Beresin said. UNPLUGGING FROM SCREENS That’s why some experts warn against leaving TV coverage on constantly as the invasion plays out. For very young children, unplugging from screens altogether for a while could help. Preschool kids may need more TLC time with a parent or caregiver while they work through their emotions, Beresin said. “They know things are troubled. They know things are problematic. They may ask you if you’re worried. Kids of all ages may ask if you’re worried. And frankly, you got to be honest.You can say, ‘Yes, I am, but we can manage this. We can get through this.’ I would indulge them a little bit,” he said. Andrea Barbalich is editor-in-chief of TheWeek Junior, a weekly news magazine for kids ages 8-14 with 100,000 subscribers in all 50 states. She and her staff have been covering Ukraine. “We’re very calm in our tone and we’re selective in the facts that we present,” she said. “We avoid very frightening and upsetting information and focus on the helpers wherever we can. Right now, for example, there are thousands of people around the world and many governments working together to stop the conflict and end the fighting. There are people on the ground who are helping people who are injured. There will be humanitarian aid for people who need it.” The issue focused on troops amassing at the borders, outlined the shared history between Russia and Ukraine and explained the position of the US Next week’s issue will take on the invasion. “We’ve heard from a tremendous number of parents already who have thanked us for covering the story so forthrightly, and they are telling us that they appreciate our calm and factual approach because their children are frightened and they weren’t sure what to say,” Barbalich said. For kids, said Dr Nick Hatzis of the outpatient mental health care facility Compass Health Center in Chicago, the most important step for parents is to “create a space that allows for listening.” Conversation on Ukraine may be exactly what some kids want and exactly what others might not, he said. “There’s going to be a lot of back and forth,” said Hatzis, medical director for child and adolescent programs. “We want to make sure that we are actively promoting our routines, our schedules, participating in the meaningful activities in our lives and in our kids’ lives.” Honesty, reassurance: How to talk to kids about Ukraine Svyatoslav, 6, plays with his tablet in a public basement used as a bomb shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine. AP Technology can facilitate a fully connected healthcare system CONTRIBUTOR Doug Halsall F ATURE
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