GUYANESE across the country will soon be able to access their medical records and medical test results directly from their mobile devices, as the Ministry of Health advances its nationwide healthcare digitisation initiative.
Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony, recently outlined the progress of the initiative during an appearance on ‘Starting Point’, highlighting the successful implementation of electronic medical records at the Festival City Polyclinic and the ongoing rollout at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).
“We have started putting in electronic records, we have started at Festival City at the Polyclinic there and now residents around that facility, they can actually go online and make an appointment and go and see their doctor or any one of the clinics. If you want to see the dentist you can make an online appointment and do so. We have tested it here and now we are at the GPHC,” Minister Anthony explained.
The digitisation agenda is expected to significantly improve the quality of healthcare services by reducing waiting times, streamlining patient movement between departments, and ensuring more efficient access to medical information.
“The GPHC is obviously more complex because we have all these departments, so in another couple of weeks we would be able to roll out that at the outpatient department and then we would go from one department to another. I would say it’s going fairly well but this is a very complex process and we have thousands of patient records so making sure that these things are accurate is very important. Once we complete this job, it will be more efficient and easy for patients because you will have portability of your record. You will have your record on your phone so you can move from one point to the next and that record would be with you,” the Health Minister said.
Minister Anthony further explained that, under the new system, patients visiting GPHC for laboratory tests or imaging services will benefit from faster and more seamless access to results. Healthcare workers will collect and tag samples digitally, with results uploaded directly to the patient’s electronic medical record.
Citing GPHC as an example, the Minister noted that patients will no longer need to return to the hospital solely to collect test results, as these will be accessible through their devices and the system.
“Similarly, if you go to the imaging department of the hospital you do a CT or an X-ray, that will also be part of the record. We want to have for every patient, all of different things being in that patient record and I think what is very important is medicines, because a lot of our patients, when they come to the clinic and you ask them what meds they are on, they might have difficulty remembering the names of these medicines, so now the doctor can pull up that record, see what those medications are,” Minister Anthony said.
An additional component of the initiative will involve the integration of Clinical Decision Making Software designed to support doctors in identifying potentially harmful drug interactions and improving patient safety.
“Another layer of the digitisation process will be added in the near future. This is the addition of Clinical Decision Making Softwares and it will be particularly helpful for both doctors and patients in cases where two or three medications are prescribed and might have a reaction in combination. The Clinical Decision Making Softwares will flag these and the doctor will be able to further advise the patient on what to expect while undergoing treatment. The doctor can override the system, but it will have to be a deliberate thing to do so. They will know exactly what will be a side effect and can warn the patient as to what to expect and they can then work with the patient in this regard,” Minister Anthony explained.
Following the completion of the first phase of the project, the Ministry of Health will conduct an evaluation before expanding the system to additional hospitals across the country. The long-term objective is to establish an interconnected public healthcare system with seamless access to patient records nationwide. The Ministry also plans to collaborate with private healthcare providers to facilitate smoother transfers between the public and private sectors.
“If someone wants to seek care in a private sector or from the private sector to the public sector then that transfer must be seamless. We want to start first with the public sector and we are starting with one of the most complicated areas, that is the Georgetown Hospital and if we can get that right then the other places will be much easier,” Minister Anthony said.
