The Electronic Health - Assignment Example

E-Health (also written as eHealth) is the health care practice carried out by making use of information technology and electronic procedures. It is a newly emerging field that is rapidly leading toward the improvement of health care in developing countries. This paper is a research on e-health.
E-Health provides services that let doctors have access to their patient’s data, by maintaining their records and information about their diseases in databases and other e-Health tools, rather than using paper documents (Eysenbach). They can assess the data; prepare prescriptions to be sent to the pharmacies via communication technology; get instant and accurate results from the laboratories directly; communicate with their patients regularly no matter which part of the globe they live in; and, give better suggestions regarding their health and lifestyle. On the other hand, the patients here referred to as e-Patients, can have access to doctors all around the world with the use of information and communication technology, telemedicine, and e-Health systems, get a diagnosis (known as remote diagnosis) and treatment regarding their diseases, and thus, remain better informed about their problems in particular and health care in general.
Eysenbach writes in his article that e-Health has a major contribution to solving the communication problem between the practitioners providing healthcare in remote areas and healthcare institutions in the city. E-Health brings the best healthcare providers into the competition which enhances the quality of healthcare practice. It has created a trustworthy doctor-patient relationship, as e-Health systems ensure the patient’s privacy. It provides tools, known as e-Health tools, which facilitate health services like diagnosis and treatment. These include electronic databases, mobile monitors, health portals, and many more. E-Health is also cost-effective as money is not spent on staffing and travel resources. The European Union (EU) is the leader in the development of e-Health systems and tools.
ICT has made it possible to provide faster, more reliable, cost-effective, and responsive solutions to mankind in the health sector (Europe’s Information Society). E-Patients use ICT to have better knowledge about their diseases and other issues. They can communicate with their physicians and fellow sufferers. ICT has enabled patients to be part of the health decision process who are constantly requesting to view and access the data about their diseases contained in their medical records. Physicians use ICT systems to analyze and access their patients’ records and have peer-to-peer communication. Read More