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Health and the Network Society: Spanish/Catalan book launched

I’m delighted to present my book: Health and the Network Society published by Ariel now available at the book stores. I perfectly know that it would not become a best-seller but I hope it could contribute just a little to foster new debates and further research on ICT and Health.Health systems are embedded within technological, economic, social and cultural changes of our current social structure: the network society. This book is based on empirical research about the transition of the Catalan health system towards the network society. The results show how the interaction between the technological, economic, organizational, social and cultural dimensions are facilitating the emergence of new profiles of citizens, patients and healthcare professionals. The determinants that shape these new profiles allow us to identify the inhibitors and drivers of Industrial healthcare systems towards the Network healthcare systems.

Innovative health technologies: health systems in transition Synthesis

I have collected all the presentations in the same post to summarise the information. Thank you very much indeed to all the participants for these inspiring and wonderful days. I would like also to express my gratitude to Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) for its support.

Workshop: Innovative health technologies: health systems in transition
Supported by: Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3)
Organized by: Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva (Internet Interdisciplinary
Institute –UOC) and Michael Hardey (Hull/York Medical School – Science and
Technology Studies Unit, Department of Sociology, University of York)
Data: 26th and 27th November
Place: Meeting room -1A , UOC IN3 building. Av. Canal Olímpic, s/n. Edifici B3,
08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona)

26th November

27th November

Workshop: Innovative health technologies: health systems in transition

I’m deligthed to announce the “Innovative health technologies: health systems in transition Workshop”

Supported by: Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3)

Organized by: Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva (Internet Interdisciplinary Institute –UOC) and Michael Hardey (Hull/York Medical School – Science and Technology Studies Unit, Department of Sociology, University of York)

Data: 26th and 27th November

Place: UOC IN3 building. Av. Canal Olímpic, s/n. Edifici B3, 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona)

Description

Digital technologies and the Internet are increasingly changing how people understand their health, how health care is organised and delivered to patients and opening up new scientific approaches and innovations. For example, health care records are being digitised and made available though various devices to users in most nations with a centralised health care system. Developments in genetics, imaging technologies, cloning and stem cell research are changing how health is understood and the treatments available to individuals. Such changes in the organisation of health and medical knowledge are increasingly engaging with the public through information that is made available on the Internet.

The Internet is now a vast repository of information about health and well-being.  Supported by Web 2.0 resources, the Internet has increasingly included information about health, illness and lifestyles provided by individuals.  As more of the public become connected through computers and mobile devices new opportunities are created for the publication of health information and advice.  However, the diversity of health information raises questions about quality and the impact incorrect or poor information may have on individuals.  There is already evidence that the doctor-patient relationship is changing in the face of developments in Information and Communications Technologies.  In addition, while people are the advice people may choose to follow may not necessarily result in health behaviours.  For example, men defined as obese may share information available on the Internet to remain ‘big and fat’ despite medical advice to the contrary.

The desire to provide a seamless inter-agency service built around the needs of individual people (and more broadly clients and patients of national health and welfare services) is a common aspiration in most countries with a centralised welfare system.  Developments in Telecare have seen the growth of ‘smart homes’ that enable people to live safely at home through various monitoring and intervention systems.  Such monitoring devices are also being used by people in pursuit of healthy bodies through exercise.  The iPod or iPhone can, for example, be used to monitor running and other physical activity. These technologies raise questions to do with the privacy and ownership of information.  In other words information technology has become both directly and indirectly part of everyday life for many people and those who play a part in their lives.

In this broad context, the aim of this workshop is seeking to understand how, for whom and to what extend changes in the material conditions of health information and communication is transforming the generation of medical knowledge, the conception of health and the demand and provision of healthcare delivery.

To reach this aim, the workshop is organized in discussion sessions where social researchers will present their recent research results, methodologies and experiences with enough time for rich interaction among the participants.

Program

26th Thursday

10:00 – 10:15 Opening session
10:15 – 12:00 Presentations

  • Andrew Webster - Innovation in health: a social science perspective
  • Michael Morrison - ‘Measuring Innovation - a brief introduction to the REMEDiE project’
  • Laura Machin - Cord blood banking: initial observations

12:00 – 12:15 Coffer-break
12:15 – 13:45 Presentations

  • Mariann Hardey - Private medical care and the Web
  • Eulàlia Hernádez - Providing resources for caregivers trough the Internet.

13:45 – 15:00 Lunch
15:00 – 16:45 Presentation

  • Flis Henwood - ‘Health-e discourse? Engaging the community in e-health developments for obesity self-management’
  • Sue Ziebland - Knowledge is Power? The role of health information

16:45 – 17:00 Coffer-break
17:00 – 17:30 Conclusions of the day

27th Friday

10:00 – 10:15 Opening session
10:15 – 12:00 Presentations

  • Imma Grau - Studying Virtual Communities for patients with chronic illnesses, in Forumclinic
  • Daniel López - Reframing telecare: an ethical discussion concerning ageing-in-place, independence and care.
  • Darren Reed - Performativity of Data

12:00 – 12:15 Coffer-break
12:15 – 13:45 Presentation

  • Michael Hardey - Consuming professions: user-review websites and health services
  • Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva and Michael Hardey - Health professionals, the Internet and Internet informed patients

13:30 – 15:00 Lunch
15:00 – 16:00 Conclusions of the workshop

Thanks indeed to the participants, to IN3 for the support and to Laura Vidal for her wonderful organization work. See also information available at IN3.

Doctors, Citizens and the Internet: Brown Bag Seminar Series - SATSU

On 23rd June I had the pleasure to present some of the results of our research in the Brown Bag Seminar Series at Science and Technology Studies Unit (SATSU) in the Department of Sociology at University of York where I’m as a visiting researcher.

I have to thanks all the people who were there for their questions and comments. Special thanks to Michael Hardey who helps me to improve the statistics labels. Now we have to keep working on some papers using these analysis.

From “Disconnected Citizen to “Networked Citizen”

From Disconnected Citizen to Network Citizen

From “Utilized ICT physicians” to “Integrated ICT Physicians”

From Utilised ICT Physician to Integrated ICT Physician

Of course, any comment or suggestion will be very welcomed indeed

Healthcare system 2.0: from industrial healthcare to network healthcare

I just want to share my presentation “Healthcare system 2.0: from industrial healthcare to network healthcare”. It could be also entitled “From information to interaction, from citizen to networked citizen, from physicians to networked physicianas… Healthcare in transition to Network Society”. I have to congratulate  Kroniker, Sanidad 2.0 and Healthcare Department of Euskadi, specially Dr. Rafael Bengoa, for their wonderful job as organizers and support of the conference.

My presentation was based on a research carried out in Catalonia. Our analysis suggests a transition from industrial healthcare system to network healthcare systems with clear gaps and divides:

  • From plane and low quality health web pages (more than 50% of the 1240 web pages analysed) to interactive health websites (just 5% of them)
  • From excluded citizens who do not have access to ICT, do not use the Internet and do not care about them, to network citizens, who have access to many ICT devices and use the Internet to read/write, share ideas and socialize.
  • From traditional physicians (70%) to network physicians (30%), who use Hospital Information System intensively, who use the Internet to spread information, to search national and international research information, to communicate with patients and healthcare professionals to sum up the Internet is embedded on their work routines as interactive space.

As you have already noticed the presentation is in Spanish. I have translated the last two slides. The first one summarizes the drivers of this transition from citizens and healthcare professionals point of view:

transition

The second one is  a framework for policy-makers to manage this change developed by Ismal Peña, another member of Interdisciplinary Research Group on ICTs (i2TIC), based on Measuring digital development for policy-making: Models, stages, characteristics and causes. The role of the government

framework ICTlogy

We have to keep working into this framework to adapt it better to healthcare system. Although I think It perfectly fixes within the healthcare system.

Excellent reflection about EHR by Vince Kuraitis

Most of the times when I read my RSS feeds I’m susprised by the amounts of post that are based on slogans, beliefs, wishes… but sometimes I’m surprised by the quality of some reflection. I would like to share Vince Kuraitis post entitled EHR 2.0: Thinking Outside the Cat Box. This post presents a number of innovative ways to conceptualize EHR 2.0:

* EHR as Platform + Applications
* EHR as Clinical Groupware
* EHR Integrated with PHR
* EHR as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
* EHR as a “Publish-Discover” Search Engine
* EHR + Disease Management Services = Care Coordination
* DRT-Enabled EHR

These innovative ways to conceptualize EHR 2.0 and Vince Kuraitis description perfectly fix with “A decade of ICT development in health care”. We may not forget that innovation is based on research not just in slogans, beliefs or wishes.

Spreading thesis research results

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.

Thesis defense: The Internet, Health and Network Society

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

Spanish presentation

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.

Twitter and Health: A National Dialogue On HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY

Today I have received an email telling me “natldialogue (natldialogue) is now following your updates on Twitter”. Obviously, I check the link http://twitter.com/natldialogue; its bio description states “How should we protect personal privacy and expand the use of information technology to improve health care?” and its link that points me to A National Dialogue On HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY.

The dialogue is launched by this question “How should we expand the use of information technology and protect personal privacy to improve health care?” and encourage people to submit ideas or concerns, write questions or comments, share stories or vote ideas from other people. Furthermore, the website provides expert information about the issue

Twitter is just used to follow conversation, but this web also provides a opinion tracker to show what people are thinking and saying about how information technology can be used to improve healthcare while safeguarding privacy.

I must keep an eye on this initiative as a clear and intereting case study to be analysed.

Society, Health and the Internet references

This post will be for sure my longest post ever. I would like to share my thesis’s references. You could also find them at my personal references manager. Enjoy them!

REFERENCIAS

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· Anderson CW (2003) A call for internet pharmacies to comply with quality standards. Qual. Saf. Health Care 12(2):86

· Anderson, J.G.; Rainey, M.R.; Eysenbach, G. (2003). The Impact of CyberHealthcare on the Physician–Patient Relationship. Journal of Medical Systems. Vol 27. nº. 1. págs. 67-83.

· Anderson GF, Frogner BK, Johns RA, Reinhardt UE (2006) Health Care Spending And Use Of Information Technology In OECD Countries. Health Affairs 25(3):819–831

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· Asociación para la Investigación de Medios de Comunicación - AIMC (2005). 7ª Encuesta AIMC a usuarios de Internet. [artículo en línea]. AIMC. [Fecha de consulta: 18 de enero de 2006]. <http://www.aimc.es/aimc.php>

· Balen MR, Jewesson JP (2004) Pharmacist Computer Skills and Needs Assessment Survey. J Med Internet Res 6(1):e11

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· Castells, M. (2006). Informacionalismo, Redes y Sociedad Red: una propuesta teórica. En: Castells, M. (ed.) (2006). La sociedad red: una visión global. Madrid: Alianza Editorial

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· Castells, M.; Tubella, I. et al. (2003). La Societat Xarxa a Catalunya. Barcelona: Rosa dels Vents – Editorial UOC.

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· Coulter, A. (2002). After Bristol: putting patients at the center. BMJ. V0l 324, pp 648-651

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· Eysenbach, G., 2002. Infodemiology: the epidemiology of (mis)information. The American Journal of Medicine, 113(9),763–765.

· Eysenbach, G., 2000. Recent advances: Consumer health informatics. British Medical Journal, 320(7251), 1713–1716.

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· Ferguson, T. (2000). “Online patient-helpers and physicians working together: a new partnership for high quality health care”. British Medical Journal. Vol. 321, págs. 1129-1132.

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· Fieschi M (2002) Information technology is changing the way society sees health care delivery. International Journal of Medical Informatics 66(1-3):85–93

· Figueras, J.; Mckee, M.; Cain, J.; Lessof, S. (eds.) (2004). Health systems in transition: learning for experience. [online book]. European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. [Retrieved: 30/08/2006] <http://www.euro.who.int/document/E83108.pdf>

· Finch, T.; May, C.; Mort, M.; Mair, F. (2006). Telemedicine, Telecare, and the Future Patient: Innovation, Risk and Governance. En: Webster A (2006) New Technologies in Health Care. Challenge, Change and Innovation. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, Health, Technology and Society Series

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· Florin D, Dixon J (2004) Public involvement in health care. British Medical Journal 328(7432):159–161

· Fox, S. (2002). Vital decisions. [artículo en línea]. PEW Internet & American Life Project. [Fecha de consulta: 5 de octubre de 2006]. http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/59/report_display.asp

· Fox, S. (2003). Internet Health Resources. [artículo en línea]. PEW/INTERNET. [Fecha de consulta: 17 de enero de 2006]. <http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Health_Report_July_2003.pdf>

· Fox, S. (2004). Prescription Drugs Online. [artículo en línea]. PEW Internet & American Life Project. [Fecha de consulta: 5 de octubre de 2006] http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Prescription_Drugs_Online.pdf

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