EHEALTH IN THE

COMMUNITY SETTING
EXTENSIVE CAPABILITIES OF ICT

a. Communicating with a patient through a teleconference,

electronic mail (email), short message services (SMS)
b. Recording, retrieving and mining data in an electronic medical
record (EMR)
c. Providing patient teachings with the aid of electronic tools such
as radio, television, computers, smartphones and tablets.
THREE MAIN AREAS OF EHEALTH

1. The delivery of health information, for health professionals and health

consumers, through the Internet and telecommunications.
2. Using the power of information technology (IT) and e-commerce to improve
public health services
 Example through the education and training of health workers.
3. The use of e-commerce and e-business practices in health systems
management.
POWER DATA AND INFORMATION

• The health care system builds heavily on accurate

recording of obtained data.
• Paper based methods may bring inconvenience
especially when it comes to interoperability of health
services, information backup, and instant data access.
PROBLEMS IN PAPER-BASED METHODS

1. Continually and interoperability of care stops in the

unlikely event that a record gets misplaced.
2. Illegible handwriting poses misinterpretation of data.
3. Patient privacy is compromised.
4. Data are difficult to aggregate.
5. Actual time for patient care gets limited.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CHANGES
AFFECTING HEALTH CARE INFORMATICS

1. The ability to manipulate large amounts of data.

2. The ability to relate data to cohorts of people who
share similar health problems.
3. The ability to link to genomic data.
BENEFITS OF HAVING A WELL-MANAGED
PATIENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
1. Data are readily mapped, enabling more targeted
interventions and feedback.
2. Data can be easily retrieved and recovered.
3. Redundancy of data is minimized.
4. Data for clinical research becomes more available.
5. Resources are used efficiently
CHARACTERISTICS OF DATA

1. Accuracy
 This ensures that documentation reflects the event as
it happened.
 All values should be correct and valid.
 In a computerized system, a computer can be
instructed to check specific fields for validity and alert
the user to a potential data collection error.
CHARACTERISTICS OF DATA

2. Accessibility
This is a data characteristic which ascertains data
availability should the patient or any member of the
health care staff needs it.
Example readily available reports or statistics when
needed by decision makers.
CHARACTERISTICS OF DATA
3. Comprehensiveness
 Data imputed should be complete.
 This is don by making sure that all required fields in the
patient’s record are properly filled up.
4. Consistency/reliability
 Having no discrepancies in data recorded makes it consistent.
5. Definition
 Data should be properly labeled and clearly defines.
 Example 36 is just an ordinary number unless it is labeled as
an age of a pwrson.
FACTORS AFFECTING EHEALTH IN THE
PHILIPPINES

1. Limited health budget

 The budget allocation for health care is relatively small. This
is one of the many reasons advancements in eHealth are
postponed.
2. The emergence of free and open source software
 In eHealth, the cost of software procurement or development
often takes up a huge position of the budget.
FACTORS AFFECTING EHEALTH IN THE PHILIPPINES

3. Decentralized government
 Under RA 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991, local
government units (LGUs) are autonomous, and therefore in
control of their own basic health services, including the budget.
4. Target users are unfamiliar with the technology
 eHealth is not only about technology. Along with software
development and hardware procurement, staff training and
maintenance of the system are key factors in determining its
effectiveness.
FACTORS AFFECTING EHEALTH IN THE PHILIPPINES

5. Surplus of “digital native” registered nurses

 Because of logistics limitations, government hospitals and
health centers are mostly understaffed despite the
estimated 200,000 underemployed or unemployed nurses
in the country.
 One of the measures of the DOH to address the
accumulation of unemployed professional nurses is the
Registered Nurses for Health Enhancement and Local
Services (RN Heals) Project.
FACTORS AFFECTING EHEALTH IN THE PHILIPPINES

5. Surplus of “digital native” registered nurses

 Digital native describes a person who grew up and is
familiar with digital technologies, and who uses them in
daily living. The entry of digital native nurses into the
profession and their nationwide deployment to
communities may potentially aid the implementation of
various ICT projects in health care.
EHEALTH PROJECTS IN THE PHILIPPINES USED
IN COMMUNITY HEALTH PRACTICE
Name Type Key Information
BuddyWorks Telemedicine  Implemented in 2004 by the University of
and the Philippines Manila-National
eLearning Telehealth Center (UPM-NTHC) through
the eGovernment Fund of the
Commission on information and
Communications Technology (ICT)
EHEALTH PROJECTS IN THE PHILIPPINES USED
IN COMMUNITY HEALTH PRACTICE
Name Type Key Information
CHITS Electronic  Developed in 2004 by Dr. Herman
(Community medical Tolentino of the UPM College of Medicine-
Health record Medical Informatics Unit (MIU). Project
Information initially began in Pasay health centers and
Tracking has been implemented on more than 48
System) health centers since then.
 Programs is divided into different modules
and based on existing DOH programs (NIP,
NTP etc.) and is a Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS)
EHEALTH PROJECTS IN THE PHILIPPINES USED
IN COMMUNITY HEALTH PRACTICE

Name Type Key Information

eFHSIS Health  An online version of the FHSIS developed
(Electronic information by the DOH where you can upload FHSIS
Field Health system and data
Service electronic
Information reporting
System
EHEALTH PROJECTS IN THE PHILIPPINES USED IN
COMMUNITY HEALTH PRACTICE
Name Type Key Information
eIMCI eLearning  Developed in 2009 by the Ateneo
(Electronic Innovation Center
Integrated  An electronic version of IMCI accessible in
Management mobile devices.
of Childhood
Illness)

NTHC eLearning  Funded by the united States Agency for

eLearning International development (USAID) and
videos developed by UPM-NTHC.
 Created eLearning videos on tuberculosis,
stroke, bird flu, and child poisoning
EHEALTH PROJECTS IN THE PHILIPPINES USED IN
COMMUNITY HEALTH PRACTICE
Name Type Key Information
RxBox Telemedicine  It is a mobile computer connected with
medical devices such as ECG, pulse
oximeter, and electronic blood pressure
and heart rate monitors that is intended
for mobile deployment to rural health
centers.
 It is also able to store and send patient
information and allow video and chat
conferencing with a medical specialist.
EHEALTH PROJECTS IN THE PHILIPPINES USED IN
COMMUNITY HEALTH PRACTICE
Name Type Key Information
SEGRHIS Electronic  An electronic medical record created for
(Segworks medical rural health units.
rural Health record  Developed by Segworks, a local software
Information company based in Davao.
System)

SHINE (Secure Electronic  An electronic medical record developed by

Health medical Smart Communications.
Information record and  A demo can be accessed online at
Network SMS [Link]
Exchange) reporting
EHEALTH PROJECTS IN THE PHILIPPINES USED IN
COMMUNITY HEALTH PRACTICE
Name Type Key Information
SPASMS SMS alert  Add-on to WAH (Wireless, Access for Health),
(Synchronized system SPASMS is a SMS reminder system for patients who
Patient Alert via are due for follow-up.
SMS)

SPEED Disaster  A project of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the
(Surveillance in management Department of Health – Health Emergency Management Staff
(DOH-HEMS).
Post Extreme and SMS  Allows CHN to submit daily reports of prevalent diseases
Emergencies and reporting immediately after disasters via SMS, e-mails, and other
Disasters) information and communication technologies.
 SPEED also sends immediate notification alerts (INAs) to CHN
for possible outbreaks based on available data.
EHEALTH PROJECTS IN THE PHILIPPINES USED IN
COMMUNITY HEALTH PRACTICE
Name Type Key Information
WAH Health  WAH augmented the existing CHITS by
(Wireless information connecting health centers through
Access for system and broadband Internet access
Health electronic
medical
record