Geriatric Overview

Care for the elderly is something most countries seem to have a problem with. An aged population isn?t given as much attention as is a younger more vibrant aged group to get things done. Medically though, the elderly and other members of the older age group require a lot more attention than the youth.

Geriatrics specialists are trained for this very virtue. Derived from the Greek words for ?old? and ?care?, geriatric specialists are doctors specially trained in the diagnosis, treatment and care of the elderly. Owing to their age, members of the older age group are more susceptible to many ailments and disorders because of age. As the body gets weaker and slower systemically by age, the need for health care for the nation?s aged is at a high. Geriatric specialists are aware of all the changes and disorders that can affect the elderly and can assist and contribute with timely treatments for the better health of the patients.  

TELEMEDICINE IN INDIA...Use of Electronic information to Communicate

Like the term ‘medicine’ and ‘healthcare’ telemedicine seldom refers to provision of clinical services, medical administration, experiments and procedures. Telemedicine can be a generic term that is employed to outline numerous aspects of healthcare at a distance. It is the use of electronic information to communicate technologies to provide and support healthcare when distance separates the participants.

Benefits of telemedicine:

1. Reduce the inconvenience and price of patient transfers.

2. Reduce the inessential period of time for health professionals

3. To eradicate the distance barriers and improve access to quality health care services.

4. Providing facilities to patients and rural practitioner.

5. Telemedicine is not so costly. Anyone can afford it.

6. It helps in providing facilities in rural areas.

7. It helps in providing coordination among medical professionals.

There are two types’ Telemedicine systems in India. The first, called store and forward is used to transfer digital images from one location to another. Teleradiology, telepath logy and teledermatology are few examples. The other widely used technology, the two way interactive television, is used when a face to face consultation in necessary. The Telemedicine system has been installed in the School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata and two districts hospitals. In west Bengal, two hospitals where telemedicine centers have been established are the First Coronary Center unit inaugurated in Siliguri district hospital, west Bengal on 24 June, 2001 and Bankura sammilani hospital. 

In the past two years, the pilot project on Telemedicine in Kolkata has already provided 10,000 teleconsultations.It does not require too much of a stretch of imagination to realize the telemedicine will soon be just another way to see a health professional. Time alone will tell that Telemedicine is a forward step or a backward direction. By- Medha Choudhary

Medical Management Systems to our rescue

The category of healthcare that manages the daily operations of a particular medical practise is known as a Medical Practice Management system. The main utility of this system lies in the fact that it can allow users a wide ease-of-access, at any time, to patient data, records, appointments and other records et cetera.In India and abroad, it is mostly to the average-sized medical offices that these Medical practice management systems cater to. They also allow for third-party usage in case of medical payment and billing by other medical companies. They also have their own software, which is termed the Medical Practice Management Software. This has three further sub-classes: one which is solely for desktop use, another which acts as the client-server software and the third, which is the purely Internet-dependent software

It is interesting to observe that the Medical Practice Management System works in symbiosis with the EMR (electronic medical record) systems. There does occur some overlapping of data in case of a PMS and an EMR, they are generally used to fulfil separate purposes. EMR is primarily used for assisting the entire structure with official and clinical matters, whereas the PMS serves the idea of helping out in terms of administrative and financial matters. This inter woven structure, though very good for the health of this structure, is one of the most challenging and tough aspects of the medical practice management system.

Almost all practice management systems allow the registered users to sign-in and locate patients, their appointments, and other data. Sending out insurance claims and patient statements are a part of the collection system and they also generate reports for the administrative system and the clinical staff of the institute. All in all, it is a highly intelligent system that promises to deliver a lot in the years to come. By - Rounak Bose

Telemedicine-the new trend

It is by far the prime method of healthcare service delivery in the near future. It is the niche that will be provided to us to maintain the efficiencies needed in affordable healthcare provisions. And in India, it is taking the health market by storm. Telemedicine in India is a product of the 20th century high-tech innovations, allowing for interactive sessions amongst the patients and the medicos, all the while, maintaining the privacy and integrity. It also involves the sending of medical images and health data across channels. 

It can be roughly classified into 3 main branches based on the type of service provided; store-and-forward telemedicine, real-time interaction sessions, and remote monitoring of patients.The Telemedicine Society of India, a government initiative, providing Telemedicine and online health-care is not the only provider in this field. It is backed by many growing and developed private institutes serving this premium feature. 

This new addition to the array of medical services is highly beneficial to those people who live in remote places and inaccessible communities. They receive intensive care from specialists online, without having to travel for solutions to their medical maladies. Online patient visits and prescription generation and h-drug administration reduces drastically the cost of medical services. 

On the darker side, huge expenditure is involved n the setting-up and initialising of this process. It also reduces face-to-face interaction and totally removes the play of emotions.  Despite all its flaws, telemedicine in India is maturing to an advanced level at a high rate. In this era, when the average consumer carries out almost all of his day to day activities online, it is definitely not a surprise that healthcare and advanced medicine departments should also be handled in the same fashion. 

By -  Rounak Bose

E-health records-the need of the hour...

Thousands of patients die every year from medical errors that can be forestalled. Standing in this scenario, it is quite imperative that we adopt the new technologies in the market. This is bound to improve the way health records are maintained all over the world, drastically.The Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act being passed in the recent past, e-health records have been widely accepted across organisations in India and abroad, small and big. 

An EHR is an electronic version of the medical data of any individual, maintained by the service-provider and including all the main administrative as well as clinical data which is significant for that person’s care, including statistics, progress memos, diagnosis reports et cetera. However, in India, around 60% of online patients claim to possess an EHR, roughly 20% of them utilise it for more efficient medical care supply. 

The advantages include improved high rate of availability of data, allowance to digitalised medicos for entering orders from customers, efficient payment systems, encumbrance to health issues, and enormous comfort of access. The dark side however, entails lack of interactive ability amidst EHRs, extremely high expenditure for setting-p and maintenance, delays in database-entries as well as an ever-lasting updating system.

Assessing new technology on the rise, implement a new set of processes, managing workflows and recognising and deleting garbage value before taking to the society a new EHR system, will drastically help to better effectuation, build up communication, and de-limit non-value added work. This ultimately will lead to an increase in the acceptance of this feature in India to a greater degree.

By - Rounak bose

 

For more info : Electronic Health Records India

5 Reasons why EHR practice is not popular in India

Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a step forward in the improvement of healthcare system. It is a technology that saves the records of patient’s medical history, physical examination, prescriptions and treatment digitally. But, it is not being widely accepted in India due to the following reasons:

Doctors need to say: Yes Please!

The main reason why Electronic Health Records (EHR) system is not faring well in India is the reluctance of doctors to participate. They are not too enthusiastic about a system that, according to them, constitutes of time-consuming and burdensome writing of prescriptions on computers. In India, doctors see 40-60 patients per day and they have no time to put down the information on computer. But doctors are coming around slowly as big healthcare companies like MEDICOSA work on providing the best and most efficient EHR platforms.     

Two ‘I’s for Incredible India and Two for Illiterate India :

A big hurdle in the path of success of EHR system is the illiteracy rate in India, especially when 70% of Indians live in rural areas. IT is hard to get them to understand the technicalities of EHR system when they don’t even have the basic education. Measures are being taken to connect with the people living in villages. If villagers can’t come to you, you go to them. This is exactly what the healthcare system MEDICOSA does; it bridges the gap between rural and urban. 

No roots in Grassroots :

The metropolitan cities of India are equipped to welcome these technological changes but the problem lies with the grassroots levels. Government hospitals in small cities lack the resources required to make an initiative like EHR a success. There’s no money to invest on expensive interface, training of staff, migration of information etc. 

Government of India, Step Up :

There is a sort of laid-back attitude in the hospital administration when the subject concerns EHR. This is because there is no legal requirement or pressure from government for the implementation of EHR system. Unlike US government, Indian government has not yet made EHR practice mandatory. 

Scared of Change :

The new and fresh idea of digitizing medical records is intimidating to people, as people are used to, and they actually prefer the old method of storing data in files and folders. By – Muskan Gupta

For more info : Electronic Health Records India

ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS IN INDIA

Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is a technique used in noting the observations, diagnosis, treatment & any other medical parameter, electronically using the latest technology.

It can be described as a Summary of Any Observation or a Record, that is produced during any Clinical Observation or/and Practise.

Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is basically any technique used in noting the observations, diagnosis, treatment, and any other medical parameter, electronically!

We always make sure what we do, during any hour of the day, is arranged and well managed, so as to avoid any conflict.

Similarly, Any EMR/EHR has to be well managed and well arranged. The information uploaded in it should be arranged, as there is no problem in finding it when is needed the most, and using it to its full potential.

Electronic records are highly useful in many ways such as:-

• Medical history goes paperless now
• Healthcare costs are highly reduced 
• Empowering the doctors to be able to deliver right treatment at the right time 
• Practice of evidence-based medicine is being promoted
• Lifespan of the health records have now increased. Concept of forever implies over here.
• safety with access, audit and authorization can now be done easily

By - Trishala

For More Visit : Electronic Health Records India

TELEMEDICINE, ITS BENEFITS AND USES

Telemedicine is the use of telecommunications to improve the health status of patients by exchanging medical information using latest technology. It helps eliminate the distance barriers and can improve access to medical services that would often not be consistently available in distant rural communities. It is very beneficial to the rural poor, who can not afford quality medication or don't have an efficient healthcare system in their vicinity.

Large hospital have e-medicine provision as a part of their CSR initiatives. Many doctors are also in support of it since 70 percent of India’s population lives in rural areas and even in cities, health workers have a hectic lifestyle and long commutes which makes it tough to visit the doctor, but there are nearly 900 million mobile phone connections and over 200 million internet users, hence the wireless technology can be harnessed to decentralise India’s healthcare industry.

Some of the lesser known benefits and uses of the telemedicine industry are:

1. Telemedicine has been shown to reduce the cost of healthcare and increase efficiency through better management of chronic diseases,shared health professional staffing, reduced travel times, and fewer or shorter hospital stays.
2. Telemedicine can be used as a teaching tool, by which experienced medical staff can observe, show, and instruct the medical staff located somewhere else.
3. It also keeps a track of blood pressure, heart rate, weight, blood glucose, and hemoglobin. Depending on the severity of the patient's condition, the provider may check these statistics on a daily or weekly basis to determine the best course of treatment. 

          For more info visit : Telemedicine in India

MEDICAL PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The medical practice management system/software,also known as PMS , is the new advent in technology that strives to make health care efficient and minimum-time consuming. The PMS mainly pertains to the business and management side of health care,that is,to say that PMS is not exactly the domain of a doctor or physician as it does not require any proficiency in the medical area. What PMS actually is,is an assistant to the doctor’s assistant. It helps schedule appointments,track patient progress,estimate bills and most importantly keep a permanent record of the patient’s vital demographics like place of living,emergency contacts etc. The PMS also facilitates the tracking of one of the most important parts of health care – insurance,and coordinates the patients’ eligibility to seek a certain kind of treatment.

Even though the medical practice management system does not require a physician’s active involvement,doctors do need to take a conscious role in selecting the type of software that is going to be used in their clinic or hospital,so that problems of coordination do not arise further along the road. Since the PMS also doubles up as an accounting system,keeping track of the receipt of fees and corresponding office expenditures, the renumeration of doctors also depends on a sound medical practice management software with minimum glitches. With everything slowly being modified to find incorporation in the digitized world,it is only natural that something as basic yet crucial as maintenance of proper records is carried out efficiently,because one loose link could break the entire chain.   

By- Sukanya