About Author:
Swati Sharma
Scientist,
Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC),
Department of Science & Technology, New Delhi, India.
mail_swati84@yahoo.co.in
Abstract:
The demand for more and better health care services world-wide with several existing concerns related to quality of patient care, prevalence of incorrect medical diagnosis or medical treatment due to limited patient’s medical information, and rising costs. With the advancement in technologies, Information based medicine has promising potentials to enable the health experts to identify a patient’s unique health profile well in advance.
Information technology (IT) industry has played a key role in putting India on the global map. It has made tremendous impact on many sectors like education and transportation and especially in health. Driven by many commendable successes in recent decades, such as eradication of small pox or the elimination of life-threatening diseases like polio and tuberculosis, there is a great demand for more and better health care services world-wide with several existing concerns related to quality of patient care, prevalence of incorrect medical diagnosis or medical treatment due to limited patient’s medical information, and rising costs. Medical mistakes that include medication errors have raised concerns about medication safety globally. Institute of Medicines report “To Err is Human” estimated 40,000 to 98,000 deaths per year in the US can be attributed to medical errors, resulting in wasteful healthcare spending in billions. If extrapolated to Indian setup, these figures would be much higher than expected. Most of the cases of medication errors are unreported in urban areas while the rural ones don’t even bring in notice. Information based medicine where patients receive personalized, targeted treatment for particular disease based on individual’s genetic and metabolic parameters, if adopted, would dramatically decrease occurrence of medical errors. This would enable the health experts to identify a patient’s unique health profile well in advance. It has been implemented in some health centres in USA- iCAPTUR4E Centre, deCODE genetics, Mayo Clinic, Australia- HMRI etc.
“The primary goal is that the physician has access to clinical information, not only about the patient laboratory and radiological tests, but to give him context he needs to have the most up-to-date information about the condition and the guidelines for treatment. If it’s relevant, he needs to have familial, historical, and environmental information about the patient. All of this information must be available at the appropriate time and at the physician’s fingertips, automatically applied to the specific patient.”
-David Liss, VP of Strategic Initiatives, New York-Presbyterian Hospital
With the growing awareness towards health issues, today’s population is not just aging, but is also better informed. Patients play a more active role in their healthcare today and demands for treatment regimens most appropriate to their individualized needs. Coupled with geographical and clinical barriers, there is a need to accelerate the development of technological strategies and bringing stakeholders onto a common platform which will provide implementable solutions to health problems thereby expanding the awareness to access health care to the better-informed patients of India in future. Eventually, in making information based medicine a reality, the convergence of scientific advances with best practices coupled with individual patient data management is need of the hour.
References:
1. A report by KPMG and ASSOCHAM 2011, titled “Emerging Trends in Healthcare, A Journey from Bench to Bedside”
2. A report supported by sanofi-aventis, 2009, titled “Evidence-based medicine”
3. A report by Frost & Sullivan 2003, titled “Information Based Medicine Better Patient Care By Better-Informed Physicians”.
4. A report by Government Insights, an IDC company, USA, 2008 titled “Electronic Health Information: The Key to Evidence-Based Medicine and Improved Patient Care”.
5. Malhotra K, Goyal M, Walia R, Aslam S; 2012; “Medication Errors: A Preventable Problem”; Indian Journal of Clinical Practice, Vol. 23, No. 1.
6. bio-itworld.com/archive/111403/strategic_work.html
7. ibef.org/industry/information-technology-india.aspx
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