Francesc Moya, responsible for the Fundació TicSalut technology area, presented the results of the ICT and Health Survey during the meeting held at the TecnoCampus Mataró-Maresme. Although the survey was complicated in time and responses, it once more achieved the participation of the 122 suppliers of SISCAT, which means that it gives a clear x-ray of the current scenario.
The ICT and Health Survey 2013 indicates the continued positive evolution of suppliers (mixed centres, pure mental health centres and pure social healthcare centres) with respect to upgrading the infrastructures and adopting the new tendencies. Furthermore, up to 37% of the institutions have already started innovative ICT experiences.
At the present time, 11% of the healthcare devices available in Catalonia for working with the Electronic Medical Background (HC3) are already mobile and there is a rising tendency to include open source in the SISCAT workplaces up to 17%. As for interoperability and standards, 87% of the centres already use HL7 and 27% LOINC.
With regard to cloud computing technology, the large entities use it less than the small (31% in hospitals and primary attention, 57% in mental health and 43% in social healthcare centres). Furthermore, 38% of the entities declared that they have applications in the cloud.
With respect to the HC3, the ICT and Health Survey shows the improvement in content computerisation in the centres, with an outstanding effort in the area of mental health and social healthcare. Specifically, 93% of mixed centres in the Catalan healthcare system are already connected to the HC3 and almost all of them publish there (97%). In fact, more and more professionals from these kinds of institutions use it; in the past year, the number of centres has increased that declare that all of their doctors (3%) and the whole of the nursing team (5%) use the HC3.
Furthermore, 33% of the centres in the Catalan health system say that they no longer use paper to work with the HC3, means an increase of 9% over last year. As for image diagnosis, 95% of centres have stopped printing out x-rays in the normal way and now give a copy on CD or DVD when patients ask for the examination.
The use of telemedicine has doubled in Catalonia since 2011. More than half of the entities do telediagnosis (55%), with an increase of 5% over the total of last year. Furthermore, 42% use teleconsultation (7% more) and 13% of the SISCAT centres now use telemonitoring to follow up on patients (3% more than in 2012).
The resources of the web 2.0 are also used by the Catalan healthcare system. Specifically, the use of the social networks (Twitter, Facebook, and others) has spread to 45% of the centres, and also the maintenance of blogs and repositories of videos, photographs and presentations. 11% of entities have communities of professionals and patients; the number of professionals using them has doubled and the number of patients who are members has increased by 30%.
Mobility is another rising value: SMS appointment reminders have increased (up to 35% of entities) and the prescription of third-party apps in the clinics is expected to rise. 60% of the centres allow healthcare personnel to use laptop computers, 32% tablets and 18% smartphones.
85% of Catalan health providers have already been assessed with the EMRAM model, a measurement that compares the degree of implementation of ICTs in hospitals. 8.7% of the entities in Catalonia are at level 6 (high degree of digitalisation and Electronic Medical Record, working almost without papers) and 65.2% at level 5 (PACs implemented, EMR for nurses and doctors, medical orders, etc.).
These are important data, as in the European area, only 1.5% of hospitals are at level 6 and 16.2% at level 5, as they are still implementing HC3 processes. “This does not mean that we don’t have any homework to be done; we have to give the system intelligence so that it is more proactive and helps professionals in their healthcare work,” said Francesc Moya as he presented the results.
• Presentation of ICT and Health Survey 2013 [PDF]
• You can consult the previous editions of the Catalonia ICT and Health Surveys via this link.
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