Information Technology in Medicine

    Finally, the holidays have passed, workdays have begun and I would like to talk about medicine in Russia and abroad, paying close attention to the implemented information technologies.

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    Recently, we, the company e-Legion , have completed the development of the next part of a major medical project for the United States. Being patriots, we would love to work for the good of our country, but in Russia this is simply not in demand. According to 2009 data, the Ministry of Health and Social Development spent 692.3 million rubles on the introduction and development of information technologies in medicine , that is, only 1.31% of the annual budget.

    We are constantly comparing ourselves with America: we plant corn, then we change the system of final exams. But successful endeavors pass by. With the generalized computerization of state institutions and the availability of the Internet, we have neither electronic cards, nor a single drug database with detailed information. Therefore, our specialists work "west", and in Russia money from the budget of the city and the country is "mastered" and deposited in someone else's large pockets.

    In terms of IT, the language will not turn to say in the words of our popular satirist, " Well, these stupid Americans". After the healthcare reform in the United States, an extensive computer program was developed that allows you to create not just an electronic card for everyone who seeks help, but to create a huge database of patients. The innovation has benefited both patients and staff. Each nurse has a personal electronic signature by which, having come to work and opening the program, all the tasks for the day were visible: what medicines are needed for each of the patients, what appointments are from the doctor, in addition, there are details for each client For example, if this is a psychiatric hospital, the program will warn the nurse that a patient named Smith should not be given medicine in green tubes because he considers them life-threatening.

    Not only that: in American hospitals, every injection, pill, dropper is scanned and recorded in the already mentioned program. It is impossible to make a mistake, the scanner reads the name and dosage, if the set and read does not match, the system gives an error. After giving the medicine, the sister notes the patient’s reaction to the drug in the program, and this helps the doctor to correct the therapy in a timely manner. The records are extremely punctual, you can track the actions of any of the nurses for the entire time of work, you can find out what medicine was injected to a person 5 years ago on September 14 at 9 in the morning. With any problems of the central server of the program, it starts working offline, saving all the data and settings - a very high degree of reliability ensures that patients are provided with everything they need on time no matter what.

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    All information about him is recorded on the person’s electronic card: what diseases he suffered, at what age, what pulse and what pressure was when he was admitted to the hospital three years ago, what medications were prescribed in the hospital, which ones should be taken constantly, doses for outpatient treatment and the like intelligence. If necessary, the documents are instantly sent between clinics and hospitals of the country. There is also the largest base distributed throughout the country: it collects data from other databases and can be useful for all doctors. It describes in detail all diseases, treatment methods, experience with the use of certain drugs for a similar disease, the patient’s reaction, at disputed moments, the percentage of doctors who acted in one way or another in similar cases is given.

    We in Russia so far can only dream of such a thing, it’s good if they put us in a hospital by acquaintance or were lucky with a nurse. And if not, lie down - bear it. It is not surprising that compatriots prefer to self-medicate, seek advice on the Internet, and as soon as it becomes financially possible to go to a paid clinic or even improve their health abroad.

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    The repair in some of our clinics is such that without scenery, you can safely shoot a horror movie. You can stand in line as much as in the Moscow traffic jam, rude nurses in the registry windows and paper cards with glued leaflets falling apart from time to time aesthetically complement the general chaos. And also doctors who were advertised on all sides by representatives of pharmaceutical companies, doctors who often prescribe medications without thinking about how suitable they are for a particular patient based on his medical history, doctors who try to get rid of patients as quickly as possible.

    And after all, Russians could also count on at least partial automation of the processes in hospitals. There are funds for such developments - this confirms that, despite the global crisis, the budget of the national project “Health” was practically not cut. But what's the use? The official media shout about successes, the massive discoveries of various "health centers", but in St. Petersburg, a regular visit to a doctor in a clinic, or even more so getting to a hospital, immediately shows all the successes of domestic health care.

    Moreover, the Ministry of Health and Social Development recently published an application for the competitive creation of a social network for medical staff, where 55 million rubles would go for unique content , and the company that won the tender would only have 16 daysfor implementation. Thank God, they failed to “master” the budget, as the contest was canceled due to massive public discontent in the blogosphere.

    The only sign of informatization now is self-recording kiosks, as well as a site that provides, at the request of patients, remote advance reservations for medical appointments in municipal clinics and at home, in regional hospitals in the direction of medical institutions, as well as in commercial clinics.

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    For five years, 590 billion rubles were invested in the project, specifically in 2010 - 142 billion. In 2010, the money was supposed to be spent on the prevention and control of infections such as tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, and HIV. When will the informatization of medical facilities be included in priority areas? After all, this would significantly reduce costs in the long run: a large registry staff, a huge amount of paper for maintaining all bureaucratic records would not be needed, the number of medical errors would decrease, the loss of cards and medical records would cease. In general, on the scale of our vast country, the transition to the full computerization of medical facilities is the only way to provide decent medical care to people.

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