BRIDGING THE TECHNOLOGY GAP IN HEALTH CARE: DEVELOPING A MODEL TO BETTER HELP THOSE WHO HELP OTHERS

Abstract

Over recent years, there has been a significant increase of integrated computing devices and systems within the healthcare sector, including computerized machines which can see deep within the human body to detect illnesses previously missed, help engage the patient, provide enhanced education, and access medical data not readily accessible before. However, as new technologies, medications, treatments, and procedures are being developed rapidly, clinicians are expected to incorporate this new information into their daily practices, apply this knowledge to their patients, track each patient’s individual health status and background, while communicating quickly with patients, hospitals, and other providers. Additionally, clinicians are expected to keep up with the latest published medical data in the hopes of increasing the accuracy of diagnoses and treatments to improve patient health outcomes. However, there is a “small” problem with this expectation, there is not enough hours in a day to accomplish all of these tasks. According to a report by the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, it would take at least 160 hours (or four 40-hour work weeks) of reading every single week just to keep up with new medical knowledge as it’s published, let alone applying the effort to consider its relevance or to implement it practically. This places false expectations on clinicians. While they may be an experienced doctor, they still require a process which delivers functional, meaningful, efficient, and user-friendly technology to their daily work environment. Therefore, it is important to develop a methodology to support and compliment the recent strategy of health care delivery and payments.