Nursing Informatics in Korea
Saturday, May 5, 2012
South Korea's Ubiquitous Health Program Extends Beyond EHR
Electronic Healthcare
Records are but one realm in which IT can improve the workflow and
processes in the healthcare industry. While the industry in the US is just
starting to
standardize
and improve on its EHR systems through the HITECH act, other technologically-advanced
countries are going beyond simple recording of patient data. In South Korea,
the so-called Ubiquitous Health (U-health) initiative will entail continuous
monitoring of patient information even while outside of the hospital setting.
The concept of U-health will involve monitoring of a
patient's vital statistics virtually anywhere — hence the term
"ubiquitous." These can include blood pressure, blood sugar, body
weight, cholesterol levels and ECGs. Monitoring can also include physical activity,
exercises, eating habits and other everyday habits that might be relevant to
one's health.
Big Brother?
U-health might sound like the beginnings of an Orwellian scenario, in which
a person will no longer have any privacy due to persistent recording of
health-related information even outside of a hospital setting, but the
rationale behind U-health seems to be more pragmatic and benevolent. This will
help minimize triage times and will help monitor patients with chronic
conditions.
A Growing Healthcare Industry
A Frost & Sullivan research report says that the
healthcare IT (HIT) industry in South Korea is poised for growth, having earned
US$ 92.8 million in revenue in 2009, and growing with a compound growth rate of
6.8 annually to US$ 147.3 million by 2016. The country is also heavily
promoting its healthcare industry through medical tourism, with about 70,000
medical tourists expected each year.
According to research analyst Amritpall Singh, a
formidable HIT industry will be a necessary foundation for South Korea in its
plans to establish U-health. "Information collected from patients needs to
be secured and delivered real-time to physicians to be of use to the medical
professions," he says. To this end, the South Korean government is
spending US$ 151.50 billion from 2009 through 2013 to improve its IT
competitiveness across the board, which includes healthcare. This includes the
National Health Information Infrastructure, which is implementing EHR systems
across hospitals in the country.
On the supply-side, Companies like General Electric,
HP and InterComponentWare have expressed an interest to expand their presence into
the country for U-health research and development.
Challenges Ahead
Even with a growing industry, though, South Korea
faces shortages in terms of human resources.
The HIT industry is said to be lacking in capable professionals who can develop
the required systems for EHR and U-health. The Korean government is trying to
recruit foreign talent, as well as pushing IT-related programs in its local
universities, to help address this shortage.
Another challenge is the integration of healthcare
systems with existing platforms and protocols in the hospitals. Physicians do
need to establish their role in the whole healthcare IT environment. The aim
here is for HIT to complement the doctor's work and enhance workflow rather
than hinder it.
Even with the challenges, proponents of the U-health
system are confident that this can be achieved in time. Frost & Sullivan
predicts that South Korea will eventually reach a fully-integrated healthcare
system by 2015. Until then, it's a question of finding the right platform and
technology.
Insight:
South Korea’s healthcare systems are among the best in Asia. South Korea has also grown to be one of the most
popular in Asia, because of their excellent-quality healthcare services
and state-of-the-art facilities. The aim of their government is to enhance their quality of life,
fostering health among children and adults, giving long-term care
insurance for the elderly, and enforcing preventive healthcare and
treatment programs.
With this U-health model, the South Korean hospitals will be able
to focus on treating chronic diseases. With the amount of information
collected from the patient’s daily routine, it is far easier for the
physician to react with a treatment plan. U-health also enables
physician to perform ‘real-time monitoring’ on patients vital signs and
lifestyle patterns to identify the possible forming of diseases and
focus entirely on disease prevention. It has a lot of benefits for the patient and doctor. Regarding the challenges, I hope they'll be able to find professionals who'll developed this system.
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