International journal of medical informatics
-
Review
Bring-your-own-device in medical schools and healthcare facilities: A review of the literature.
Enabling personal mobile device use through a bring-your-own device (BYOD) policy can potentially save significant costs for medical schools and healthcare facilities, as they would not always have to acquire facility-owned devices. The BYOD policy is also perceived as a driver for balancing user needs for convenience with institutional needs for security. However, there seems to be a paucity in the literature on BYOD policy development, policy evaluation, and evaluation of mobile device implementation projects. ⋯ Rather than an approach of 'chasing' issues with interventions, a more feasible approach towards achieving a safe mobile device use environment is through the development of comprehensive BYOD policies that would balance users' need for convenience with organizational security and patient privacy. The paucity in peer-reviewed literature calls for robust research that uses socio-technical approaches to development and evaluation of BYOD policies in medical schools and healthcare facilities.
-
Social media allows for instant access to, and dissemination of, information around the globe. Access to social media in low- and middle-income countries has increased exponentially in recent years due to technological advances. Despite this growth, the use of social media in low- and middle-income countries is less well-researched than in high-income countries. ⋯ Social media has the ability to facilitate disease surveillance, mass communication, health education, knowledge translation, and collaboration amongst health providers in low- and middle-income countries. Misinformation or poorly communicated information can contribute to negative health behaviours and adverse health outcomes amongst consumers, as well as hysteria and chaos. Organizations using social media should provide accurate and readable information. Promotion of credible social media sites by governments, health care professionals and researchers, as well as education on the appropriate use of social media, could help to lessen the effect of misinformation. This is a nascent body of literature and future research should investigate the relative effectiveness of various platforms for different users, other potential uses, and pursue a broader geographical focus.
-
The application of Big Data analytics in healthcare has immense potential for improving the quality of care, reducing waste and error, and reducing the cost of care. ⋯ This review study unveils that there is a paucity of information on evidence of real-world use of Big Data analytics in healthcare. This is because, the usability studies have considered only qualitative approach which describes potential benefits but does not take into account the quantitative study. Also, majority of the studies were from developed countries which brings out the need for promotion of research on Healthcare Big Data analytics in developing countries.
-
The progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) shows that sustained global action can achieve success. Despite the unprecedented achievements in health and education, more than one billion people, many of them in conflict-affected areas, were unable to reap the benefits of the MDG gains. The recently developed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are even more ambitious then their predecessor. SDG 3 prioritizes health and well-being for all ages in specific areas such as maternal mortality, communicable diseases, mental health, and healthcare workforce. However, without a shift in the approach used for conflict-affected areas, the world's most vulnerable people risk being left behind in global development yet again. We must engage in meaningful discussions about employing innovative strategies to address health challenges fragile, low-resource, and often remote settings. In this paper, we will argue that to meet the ambitious health goals of SDG 3, digital health can help to bridge healthcare gaps in conflict-affected areas. ⋯ The SDGS are complex, ambitious, and comprehensive; even in the most stable environments, achieving full completion towards every goal will be difficult, and in conflict-affected environments, this challenge is much greater. By engaging in a collaborative framework and using the appropriate digital health tools, we can support humanitarian efforts to realize sustained progress in SDG 3 outcomes.
-
The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal #3.8 targets 'access to quality essential healthcare services'. Clinical practice guidelines are an important tool for ensuring quality of clinical care, but many challenges prevent their use in low-resource settings. Monitoring the use of guidelines relies on cumbersome clinical audits of paper records, and electronic systems face financial and other limitations. Here we describe a unique approach to generating digital data from paper using guideline-based templates, rubber stamps and mobile phones. ⋯ The use of templates improves paper-based documentation of patient care, a first step towards improving the quality of care. Rubber stamps provide a simple and low-cost method to print templates on demand. In combination with ubiquitously available mobile phones, information entered on paper can be easily and rapidly digitized. This 'frugal innovation' in m-Health can empower small, private sector facilities, where large numbers of urban patients seek healthcare, to generate digital data on routine outpatient care. These data can form the basis for evidence-based quality improvement efforts at large scale, and help deliver on the SDG promise of quality essential healthcare services for all.