by Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva, on March 22nd, 2009 | No Comments »
Lately I haven’t posted because I have been developing my thesis site to spread the results of the research. The site is in Spanish and the discussion will be in Spanish too. Here goes the video of my presentation (it’s also in Spanish if somebody likes to subtitle it, will be very welcome).
I’m sorry but I do not have enough time to translate the whole document, but I have started to write some papers in English so soon I’ll be sharing some parts of them for a kind of peer review taking into account the restrictions of the Journals.
by Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva, on February 4th, 2009 | 6 Comments »
On 23rd January 2009 I defended my PhD thesis “Internet, health and society. Analysis of the uses of internet related to health in Catalonia” supervised by the IN3’s Director and UOC Research Professor Manuel Castells. I’m translating my slide presentation, it takes time because It has many figures, just take a look at the Spanish version, and my talk to English but I would like to share the Spanish version of my presentation and the main structure in English.
Objectives:
Identify and characterize the presence of the actors of the Catalonian healthcare system in the Internet
Identify, characterize and explain the determinants of the use and social practices that the principal actors of the healthcare system carry out through ICT, specifically that of the Internet
Research questions
What type of quality information and applications related with Health are offered on the Internet?
How can the presence of the healthcare system’s actors on the Internet be characterized?
Which are the main barriers and incentives of patient support groups for Internet use?
What are the ICT uses of the citizens with regard to health and how can they be characterized?
What are the consequences of citizen ICT use, specifically that of the Internet, regarding the management of their health and the relationship with their healthcare professionals?
What are the determinants (technological and non-technological) of the demand of healthcare services by citizens via the Internet?
What are the uses of ICT, especially the Internet, by healthcare professionals and how can they be characterized?
What are the determinants (technological and non-technological) of the uses of the Internet by health care professionals (Physicians, Nurses and Pharmacist)?
General Hypothesis:
The interaction between social structure, the increase of information flow and ICT causes a transformation in social practices and in the behaviour of the actors of the healthcare system
Sub Hyphotesis
The Internet is basically an information space on Health and not an interaction space between the actors of the healthcare system; therefore health webs are characterized by the offer of information resources, by the lack of applications related with communication or services and by levels of quality associated with the actor who provides the resource
The interrelation between access, use and assessment of ICT, healthcare services demand and the capacity of the individuals to take decisions over their own health or those closest to them determines the use of the Internet to access to the health system, a new patient profile called the e-patient
The interrelation between the intensive use of ICT, specially the Internet, the positive assessment by healthcare professionals of these technologies in relation with their work activities and their patients, the intensive use of the information and professional work oriented towards research determines a new professional profile called the Networked healthcare professional.
Methodology
This thesis has verified that:
The Internet constitutes an information space on health and not an interaction space between the various actors in the healthcare system; consequently, health webs are characterized by the offer of resources related with information, the lack of applications related with communication and services, and certain levels of quality associated with the actor that offers the resource.
The interaction between access, use and evaluation of ICT; the demand of healthcare services and the capacity of the individuals to take decisions over their own health and those closest to them, determines the use of the Internet to have access to the healthcare system, i.e. determining a new profile of patient that we have called the e-patient.
The interrelation of the intensive use of ICT, especially that of the Internet; the positive assessment of these technologies in relation with their work and their patients; the intensive use of information, and a professional activity oriented towards research determines a new professional profile which we call the networked healthcare professional (networked physician, networked nurse, networked pharmacist)
Future lines of research
Analysis of the determinants of the processes of innovation of the healthcare systems in relation to ICT
Analysis of the determinants of the state of health in the context of the Network Society
Analysis of public policies in the context of the Network Society
Analysis of the technological dynamics and interactions, economic and social of biomedical research in the context of the Network Society
You can check all the references here or on my personal reference manager. Ismael Peña and Oriol Miralbell have blogging and comment the event. Finally, this thesis is just the beginig of a research career. If you have found any interesting point or something to disscuss or compare, let’s share. As Liverpool supporters You’ll Never Walk Alone.
This research project analyses the interaction between information and communication technologies, organisational change, cultural change and relationships with users in the public system of health services in Catalonia.
The study will include a statistical analysis of the dissemination and uses of information and communication technologies in the public health system, including hospitals, primary care centres, clinics and other service delivery centres. It will also analyse the uses of communication technology in the relationship between these centres, the health administration, social security and insurance companies.
The study plans also to conduct a qualitative study of the social practices that condition the introduction of new technologies in three major hospitals. It will also analyse health-related websites in Catalonia, with particular emphasis on the uses of these webs by patients. We will also study the development of Internet-based self-help groups among patients and their relatives. We will also carry out a series of in-depth interviews with experts and managers of the health administration system, MDs, nurses, paramedics, hospital workers, associations of patients, biomedical researchers and managers of hospitals and health services.
by Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva, on October 20th, 2006 | No Comments »
A few lines about myself. My name is Francisco Lupiáñez- Villanueva (or just Paco a typical Spanish name) and I begun this site as a blog following the concept of Personal Research Portal developed by Ismael Peña.
My research is concerned with the social, economic, cultural and policy issues associated with information and communication technologies; so using Prof. Castells theoretical blueprint I’m interested in the relationship between the new technological paradigm -informationalism- and the current social structure -Network Society-.
My research interests can be written, in a broad sense, this way:
Education, Health and Government and the Internet.
Digital Economy.
New Media and Communication.
Openness at the informationalism paradigm (Open Access, Open Science,…)
In 2003, I gave support in every e-learning UOC UNESCO Chair project, and I also had been teaching and doing some contents for the UOC’s E-learning International Master Degree.
You can contact me: flupianez[at]ictconsequences.net
A few lines about myself. My name is Francisco Lupiáñez- Villanueva (or just Paco a typical Spanish name) and I begun this site as a blog following the concept of 