For someone who has actually studied health informatics, I don’t blog as much about health IT as I probably should… Well, it’s never too late to change they say…
A friend pointed me in the direction of an excellent blog post by e-patient Dave, a patient advocate I truly respect and admire for his ceaseless efforts to make the world a better place for everyone who will ever find themselves in the situation of being a patient (basically everyone…). This post, with the long title: “Mobile Devices: Know the RISKS. Take the STEPS. PROTECT and SECURE Health Information”, discusses in a very good way some of the issues that our healthcare providers are faced with given the developments in health IT, referring to an US governmental website by the health IT branch of the department of Health & Human services.
I found the website very informative and wanted to find some information relating to the patients’ situation under these circumstances. Luckily, I didn’t have to go far, on the next tab, I found what I was looking for: lots of useful information on health IT from the perspective of patients and families. N.B. that the information on that website is completely applicable to the US only and that legislation can vary between countries. There is however plenty of information of a more general kind that I warmly recommend to anyone wanting to know a bit more about health IT, how it can help you and what you need to look out for.