IT in healthcare pt2: High-tech remedies promise lasting results

New technology is being harnessed to improve medical knowledge, increase health awareness and boost patient safety

Improving access to medical information and patient records may be top of the list for both the government and most UK health organisations, but there are many examples of hardware and software innovation being used for other purposes within individual hospitals.

To improve training and advance medical knowledge, hospitals and trusts have started to use high-definition videoconferencing systems to beam live footage of operations into lecture halls and remote consultancy rooms. Hammersmith Hospital conducted a live surgical master class in June 2010 (see picture) that allowed an audience to observe the procedure in close-up, monitor the patient’s vital signs displayed on screen and put questions to the surgeon during the operation.

The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesborough demonstrated similar technology (using both internal and external cameras in 1080p definition) in April this year.

Elsewhere, the use of laptops, smartphones and tablet PCs for various communications and data recording purposes has spread rapidly throughout the healthcare sector. In the near future, these will be joined by a new breed of mobile devices. According to IBM scientists and healthcare experts, pocket-size gadgets will emerge over the next five years to help people monitor their health. US analysts Berg Insight recently forecast that the market for home health monitoring devices alone was $10bn in 2010, and patient monitoring is set to grow by about 26 per cent annually through to 2014.

In its recent report, The Future of Connected Health Devices, IBM details several innovations that could revolutionise personal healthcare, including wristbands that automatically transmit data about blood sugar, iron, white blood cell and cholesterol levels to doctors, and even “avatars” that connect to the brain to help impaired patients express thoughts and feelings through sensors.

NHS watchdog the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recently announced that patients in England and Wales will be offered mobile devices that monitor blood pressure and transmit the results back to the hospital either through a PC connection, via a modem, or by linking to a local report generator that prints out the results.

Many healthcare organisations in the UK use global positioning satellite monitoring systems that track patient movements, both inside and outside hospitals, particularly important for those suffering from memory loss living outside care facilities.

All kinds of mobile devices are finding their way into UK hospitals, including the Casio IT-800, which is being used at Bury St Edmunds’ West Suffolk Hospital as an electronic barcode system to keep track of blood samples and maximise transfusion safety. The device features an integrated C-MOS imager able to scan and log 1D and 2D barcodes printed on the samples, alerting staff if time out of temperature-controlled storage is exceeded. It also transmits information taken from the bedside or operating theatre to the trust’s blood audit release system via the hospital’s wireless network.

The NHS institute for Innovation and Improvement is promoting the use of social networks as a way of creating group support sites for those looking to quit smoking or take more exercise, for example, though it simultaneously warns of the associated risks involved with sharing private information.

The NHS also uses Twitter, Facebook and Bebo, both to disseminate information and gauge patient satisfaction levels. Elsewhere, specialist social network sites such as PatientsLikeMe, Medhelp, CureTogether and FacetoFace Health provide a mixture of information on specific ailments, patient and healthcare professional contact forums, and tracking tools to monitor pain, weight and other conditions.