Electronic Health Care

One significant initiative presently being carried out by the governments of Canada is the implementation of electronic health care. Despite extensive advertising over the past two years, many Canadians are not aware of what is being done in this area and what progress has been made.

The advent of electronic health care has been a reality in some other countries for several years, particularly those with socialized medicine. It has enabled health care people to gain access to a patient's medical records quickly when needed. Without it, when a person is in an accident and their next of kin cannot be found, the emergency responders have to initiate treatment without knowing what other medication the victim takes, and therefore run the risk of giving medication that conflicts and causes further problems, perhaps seizures, illness or even death.

Access to medical records electronically can reduce the likelihood of this happening.

Or suppose you live in a rural community 200 kilometers from the nearest significant medical center. Suppose you go to the local doctor with pains in your legs. Your doctor suspects blood clots, which can be the harbinger of numerous serious conditions. To confirm this and determine the root cause, however, the doctor needs access to a specialist. So you need to travel that 200 kilometers to get the tests and have them analyzed by a specialist.

An electronic system can enable the local doctor to connect with the specialist, have tests conducted, transmitted and analyzed, all online. The result is a faster and more convenient and also constitutes a cost effective resolution of the issue.

The introduction of all aspects of electronic medicine has been in progess in Canada under the umbrella of Canada Health Infoway, a not for profit organization created by the federal and provincial governments to initiate electronic health care in Canada. Many projects have been underway in the various jurisdictions. Canada Health Infoway has an excellent website which provides detailed information on the progress being made across the country in this important area.

Electronic Health Care is not the panacea for fixing all the issues around health care in Canada. it will, however, result in better and safer health care for everyone, not to mention reduced wait times. Interestingly, it also is showing itself to be generating millions of dollars in savings, because health care can be delivered so much more efficiently and effectively.

Better health care at less cost. Who can say no to that?

Check out the Infoway Website for more information.