Information technology-based health care delivery: Information technology may be ready, but we and our patients are not!

Abstract

Information technology (IT) has really made patient care much easier and available at door steps for the consumers. All latest information about any disease and its treatment is available to the patients with a click of mouse. Searching for a suitable doctor and fixing an appointment has become much easier with the health information technology(HIT).However the patient and caregiver are often al loss regarding which information to choose and discard. Therefore, information available often tend to mislead the patients.For an appropriate information regarding any health related event, contact with a trained physician seems indispensable. HIT is a boon for middle and low income countries where health care facilities are still inadequate. But all physicians and other health care workers do not find themselves at ease with the technology. A need of training regarding the same is repeatedly emphasized. Safety and confidentiality of the personal information on the electronic health records has emerged out to be another problem in use of IT even in the developed countries. Thus use of HIT is not only revolutionized health care delivery, but it has created new risk factors for doctor patient relationship too. Thus, without proper training and knowledge about the reliability of information and training of health care workers, it may not be feasible to get the expected advantage of HIT

Keywords

• Information technology
• patients
• social psychiatry