Comments for A blog by Miguel PdL

Comment on Digitising health records is it really going to be helpful? by Medical Practice Trends

Medical Practice Trends — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:55:24 +0000

We are a little over two years into our EMR implementation and although we have had some growing pains, we are already reaping the rewards of having digital information. Not having to look for missing charts on a patient with an urgent problem (not to mention being able to view a patient’s record from home!), drug-drug interactions, drug allergies…these are but a few of many advantages of having an electronic record. Once the novelty wears off, then maybe we will see some otherwise true improvements in the delivery of health care as you point out.

Comment on Digitising health records is it really going to be helpful? by Miguel Ponce de Leon

Miguel Ponce de Leon — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:40:35 +0000

@Brian White Yes I agree, and just to add in this case I'd prefer to own/host my own EHR(s), thus allowing hospital A and hospital B to access my records off of my own hosted service. All that hospital A would have to do is instruct hospital B that it should access my record, hopefully a billion euros is not needed for this approach. In fact this is has made me look and I might go for OpenEHR http://www.openehr.org/home.html @Paul M. Watson Sounds like you're ready for Google Health https://www.google.com/health is there an app for that?

Comment on The Internet of Thingemebobs by Paul M. Watson

Paul M. Watson — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:54:50 +0000

That is a fair point though I’d say we are to some degree already walking through an RFID tracking world. Modern passports have them, some bank cards do, various products have them embedded and so on. The readers are not always marked and there are even drive-by RFID data thieves (AFAIR the RFID enabled UK passport was cracked pretty easily and security experts recommend wrapping it in tin-foil…)
And as we’ve seen anonymous data can, in aggregate, identify you.
So I’d say your last point is about right. Realise the data, even encrypted, is fairly insecure and only to be used for convenience for now. I’m not sure how you’d ever secure a public reader with tags that have URLs on them (without a less than ideal centralised relay server.)

Comment on Digitising health records is it really going to be helpful? by Paul M. Watson

Paul M. Watson — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:00:14 +0000

Agreed that tech. change without human and procedural change will result in no change.
But I do think there is something to be said for simple tech. advancements in health care. I went to the doctor the other week for the first time in 15 years. I didn’t know my blood group, my last blood test results, what my allergies were called, any drug issues I might have, the age at which I had had meningitis or if I had had German measles and so on.
Then there were all the non-medial, personal details, PSRI number, address, parent details, spouse details etc. that I had to provide. Also any medical history with my family and so on.
Most of the info I had to look up on my iPhone on the spot. Searching old emails, sending a quick message to my parents and fianceé etc.
This reminds me of those simple bracelets high-risk people used to wear. It had their major allergies and health problems listed on them in case of an emergency when the person was unable to communicate.
Pushing that idea forward might be worth something. A stick of memory I carry around with me that I can present to my doctor and that has all my relevant details on it. Maybe a simple display on it so that it doesn’t require a reader and can be used on the spot in an emergency.
Then again I didn’t see a single computer in the doctor’s office I went too. It was all paper based.

Comment on Digitising health records is it really going to be helpful? by Brian White

Brian White — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:40:43 +0000

I think the benefits are in cases where your medical records live in one hospital but you need to be treated at another.
I’ve known friends to be in a situation where treatment can’t start because letters need to be sent and received before the request for data can happen.
Presumably, with electronic records, this isn’t as much of a problem — though it’s a fair point to ask if a multi-billion software project is the right approach, where even a fax machine could probably speed things up by days.

Comment on The Internet of Thingemebobs by Miguel Ponce de Leon

Miguel Ponce de Leon — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:36:57 +0000

Agree totally Paul it’s more that the readers have to be everywhere, although I don’t mean to contridict myself but I think this is were the security issue may comes in. Every reader has to be open, and connected to the internet, passing on the data capture or event capture from your tag, and now you might have to ask the question, “who’s reading my tag data?”. Or I suppose you could take another stance, “I don’t care who is reading my tag data, I’ve only created data/events for things I don’t mind other people finding out about”.
As for the phone idea there’s always the bluetooth opton of Proximity.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/automate-your-mac-your-home-with-proximity-mac-only/

Comment on The Internet of Thingemebobs by Paul M. Watson

Paul M. Watson — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:36:02 +0000

It is a bit of a “here’s the technology, where is the problem” situation at the moment.
The tags aren’t the main problem (though the 10cm area thing is a pain) but rather the reader/detector. Most of the RFID ideas I have are nowhere near a laptop (a dynamic, multi-function device with one-click access to many things… why RFID that?)
The only TouchTag/reader combo of much use I can think of is putting a tag on my phone and when I am at my desk it sets my IM status and when I leave my desk (with my phone, always) it sets my status to “away.” I never remember to set my IM status manually.
The reader needs to be built into doors, cars, hallways, meeting rooms, canteen tables and so on. The reader needs to be ubiquitous, not just connected to my laptop on my desk.
Then I can think of many useful interactions.

Comment on The Internet of things, but where do they go? by Paul M. Watson

Paul M. Watson — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:15:51 +0000

Crikey, is that Fiona and I being shown on top of your microwave?
Fairly ironic you have “Yo Mama is so fat” jokes on top of the microwave…

Comment on There are no communication research topics in J, Y or Z by Paul M. Watson

Paul M. Watson — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:04:01 +0000

Y and Z I can understand but J? Odd that. You’d think Java’s influence might generate at least one title starting with J.
I had to look up yobibyte. Thought you were making it up. Of course, I should not have doubted you.

Comment on FP7 ICT Call 4 is over … and out now for Call 5 by Paul Watson

Paul Watson — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:25:29 +0000

Are you the chap on the left or right? Amazing photograph, other worldly.