Experiences of the digitalisation in healthcare field
I have been working with ICT in healthcare for a decade. During this time digitalisation has taken its place in healthcare services. The personnel use patient information system to document the patient data, working with web and mobile applications and integrations are everyday. Also patients use e.g. appointment booking systems and other digital services. The use of Kanta services (digital services for the social welfare and healthcare service providers) has increased digitalisation in healthcare services.
Actually, there is no possibility to work without digitalised equipment any more. Both patiens and personnel must be digitally capable to operate in this environment, and this might be and actually is a challenge. However, the digital tools provides better access to patient real-time health data. Because of digitalisation, the healthcare field has become very vulnerable to disturbance of networks. In addition, taking care of healthcare information security has become extremely important. During these years, working with health care has become very busy and demanding, tempo of developing and enabling digital services has been breathtaking.
In the future, the digitalisation is playing even bigger role with healthcare services. The future of healthcare is digital, we will be even more depending on electricity and digital networks. However, in the future digitalisation will change the content of work, from where we work and how people work together, working might be hopefully more flexible and fluid. Digitalisation has already made various remote servises possible, also personnel can work remotely. Digitalisation will create new forms of work but many people might lose their jobs also. Most likely there might be an demand for constant education to manage in future working life, too. The assumption is that digitalisation will decrease costs of different services. However, development and update of software is not necessarily economical for customers.
Hopefully we do not forget humanity and each other when future leads us without doubt to the challenging digitalized world.
Risks of open digital society
The risks of the open digital society are enormous, but people are not aware of it or they just do not care about it. Volume of collection and sharing data has grown rapidly. Even if all seems to be smooth and effective with free movement of data disadvantages can be noticed. It is easily forgotten how easily your personal data can be stolen. Therefore, your data can be speread wildly and be misued for crimes or other unpleasant activity. However, this is not only responsibility of individual. All the companies using the personal data must aware, and protect data from hackers and ensure that it is not misused. Fortunately, the EU general data protection regulation (GDPR) aims to protect individuals’ rights to his/her personal data by law.
GDPR, effects in working life
The general data protection regulation (GDPR) has created rights for individulas concernig use of their data. The affects of the GDPR can be notised when working in health services, too. Due to use of Kanta services (digital services for the social welfare and healthcare service providers) people have better access to their health data and they seems to be very interested who and how their data have been used. Patiens have right to know who is prosessing their data and why, they have right to object and correct their data. This has increased data log and data correction requestas. In health care there must be very accurate with GDPR issues, the data must be extremely well protected from outsiders and hackers.
I can not actually see any negative effects with GDPR. Because of GDPR, there is one set of data protection rules for all operating in the EU. In this digitalised world we can not ignore the importance of people control over their personal data, even if it sometimes increases our personal work tasks and makes them more complex.
Self evaluation
This was my first touch with blog building and blog text writing. It was not bad at all, actually quite nice learnig experience. In addition, I have not written English for a while, but it is going ok.
Due to my earlier education and work life, I am quite familiar with concept of digitalisation and it’s affects to our daily life. In addition, the principle of the EU general data protection regulation affects strongly to healthcare service operations.
–
I visited and commented blog sites:
Paula: https://blogi.savonia.fi/paulakivekas/digi-society/
Laura: https://blogi.savonia.fi/laurakouvalainen/digi-society/
–
References
European Council, Council of the European Union. Data protection in the EU. Web page. Last reviewed on 1 September 2022. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/data-protection/.
It is wonderful that all the digital services used in healthcare are now also with the patients’ reach. Although I’d hope that making an appointment electrically would be more accessible for patients. For example when I’m booking a leisured appointment to a dentist, I have to book the appointment by calling the dentist’s office, even though I feel like I could do it on the net. Usually the possibilities of calling the dentist’s office are during the morning, when most people are at work, and they may be too busy to wait in the line for the call or don’t have the possibility of taking a call back anytime. I truly hope, that we could develop this custom for the better.
Hi,
Your comments on digitalization in healthcare were interesting. I work in private social and healthcare sector in a small company and see digitalization on a slightly different point of view. In our company we don’t have resources for a real IT-department so all the applications and services must be learned self. GDPR regulations also cause headache because it takes a lot of resources to meet the requirements.
Availability to digital services should be guaranteed to all customers and patients. Especially the patient groups who use the services most but don’t know how to use digital services (for example elderly and handicapped) should be included in the process.
In the future there will be more digital services and applications also in healthcare. As you said the tempo of development has been breathtaking. Training and education to these services should be included to work time so that the staff can utilise the services more efficiently and also teach patients to use the services.