Week 8:
Core Domain: Health Information Systems
❏ What is your understanding of the term 'health informatics' and why do you think it is important to collect information about health?
Health informatics can be described as the ‘logic of healthcare’, much like physiology means ‘the logic of life’, and pathology the 'logic of disease’. It is the study of how clinical knowledge is created, shaped, shared and applied. It is the rational study of the way we think about and view healthcare. It is the way that treatments are defined, selected and evolved according to research, data management and information gathering.
Ultimately, it is the study of how we organise ourselves, as both patients and professionals, to create and run healthcare organisations effectively. With such a pivotal role, the study of informatics is fundamental to the medicinal practice and delivery of healthcare in this century.
❏ What role do models play in making sense of health information?
Models are the basis of the way we learn about, and interact with, the physical world. Models can act either as copies of the world like maps, or as templates that serve as the blueprints for constructing physical objects, or processes. Models that copy the world are abstractions of the real world. Models can be used as templates and be instantiated to create objects or processes that are used in the world
❏ What is the difference between data, knowledge, and information?
Data are a collection of facts.
Knowledge defines relationships between data.
Information is obtained by applying knowledge to data.
Competency: Scholarship
❏ What do you need to consider when formulating a good search strategy?
A search strategyis a well thought out plan to search for information, usually by using a set of key terms to search within particular databases.
❏ Do you feel confident in navigating the wits library and resources for research?
No, the library set up is too complicated compare to other databases that can be used.
❏ What strategies do you use to find information?
PubMed and Google Scholar.
Complementary Domain: History of Medicine
❏ What influenced your decision to register as a Bachelor of Health Science student?
I wanted to either becomea doctor or epidemiolodist and the BHSc degree that I have chosen enables me to enter either of those fields.
❏ How do we interrogate texts that are biased while evaluating their usefulness?
[I don't know]
❏ How do epidemics and pandemics shape and influence healthcare systems?
Pandemics and epidemics show weaknesses in health systems that need to be addressed. For example a consequence of the Spanish flu was the creation for the first time of a South African effort towards transforming an uneven health landscape into a centralised system of health administration.
Week 9:
Core Domain: Health Information Systems
❏ What do you think are the key features of any information system?
Data generation
Compilation
Analysis and synthesis
Communication and use
❏ What do we need to consider to ensure that data collected by a health information system is of good quality?
A successful and effective HIS would need to capture very specific data at the different levels of a healthcare system. Without this very specific data, decision-making and the processes of data generation, compilation, analysis and synthesis, and finally, communication and use would be inaccurate.
It is therefore important to look at the different types of data, and at which level, the data needs to be captured. These include:
Individual - Level Data (Electronic Health Records)
Health Facility Level Data (Aggregated Data)
Public Health Surveillance Data
Population-Level Data
Competency: Scholarship
❏ How do you know the information you are reading can be trusted?
By asking the following questions:
Is the academic source written by an expert/s in that field?
Is the academic source peer-reviewed?
Is there a list of references?
Is the publisher reputable?
❏ What are the factors to consider when determining the academic rigour of a source?
Currency: Does the source reflect recent research?
Relevance: Is the source related to your research topic?
Authority: Is it a respected publication? Is the author an expert in their field?
Accuracy: Does the source support its arguments and conclusions with evidence?
(Ryan, 2022)
❏ What criteria would you use to rank the evidence of research?
Sources of Data
Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed-Methods Research
Theoretical Background
Practical Issues
Ethical Considerations
History of Medicine
❏ What do you think are the differences between Dutch colonialism and British colonialism?
Dutch Colonialism was more focused on the cape and setting up a port for sailing ships and British colonialism was interested in natural resources and is the form of colonialism that began to shape South Africa into what it is today.
❏ What home remedies do you and your family use that you can trace back to the Dutch colonial influence?
None that I know of.
Week 10:
Core Domain: Health Information Systems
❏ What health information systems do you know that are already being used in South Africa?
Paper-based patient records.
Paper-based facility data registers.
Electronic Health Records (EHRs).
Different electronic health systems in the Private Sector.
Notifiable diseases and surveillance databases, such as the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).
The District Health Information System (DHIS).
❏ What challenges do you think South Africa faces in running and implementing the DHIS?
There are currently far too many data elements collected routinely and no convincing evidence that the information collected is being put to good use.
Most health facilities at PHC level do not have sufficient capacity to collect all the required data daily without compromising patient care.
Most data collection tools are not user-friendly because of the massive data collection requirements, i.e. the number of elements and the detail required.
There is at present duplication of data from several services which inevitably causes confusion. There is no attempt in the design of tools/registers to collect the lowest denominator data which could be extracted for different reports.
Data element definitions are not always clear, leading to different interpretations and confusion.
Data collection tools are changed too frequently, which does not allow staff to get used to the tools, and this also tends to compound the problem of shortages.
Health facilities frequently run out of collection tools and have to resort to using unreliable collection methods, such as loose sheets which cannot be properly kept.
Sometimes nurse practitioners see patients, but their statistics are not included in the clinic data/statistics.
In many clinics, the doctors are not cooperative and refuse to complete data collection forms, and their services are sometimes not documented/recorded in clinic statistics, e.g. headcounts. The reason for non-compliance by doctors could not be properly established from clinic heads.
Competency: Scholarship
❏ What questions can you ask yourself while reading academic material to focus your efforts?
[I don't know how to answer this question, I don't ask questions, I skim through a text and decide if it's relevant to the research question or topic i have in mid. if not then is don't use it.]
❏ How would you strategise individual and team contributions to a group work project?
All team members do the assigned worksheets then we meet up and discuss and combine our work.
History of Medicine
❏ What do you think are the most influential events that shaped the healthcare system in South Africa 70 to 100 years ago? (Your great-grandparents were possibly the users of the South African health care system in that period).
The apartheid regime and the democracy of South Africa being achieved.
❏ Do you think epidemics and pandemics can influence health care systems or are they controlled by health care systems?
If the healthcare system is bad, then pandemic and epidemic influence the health care system. If it's good, then it can be either.
Week 11:
Core Domain: Health Information Systems
❏ How do you think the DHIS can be enhanced in a South African healthcare context?
To implement solutions to the challenges faced by the DHIS, South Africa has adopted an eHealth strategy. ❏ What do you know of electronic medical records?
The storage of EMRs doesn’t require physical space.
Copies and back-ups of electronic data can be easily made.
Information retrieval is immediate.
Data can be more easily secured electronically.
EMRs rely on electricity and technology.
Data-entries are not as simple as paper-based entries.
❏ In what ways do you think eHealth systems can address the challenges that health systems currently face?
Provide a clear roadmap for achieving a well-functioning National Health Information System.
Ensure the exchange of data between the Health Information Exchange (HIE) and the central data repository called the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD).
Respond to the White Paper on the National Health Insurance (2015) requiring an effective national electronic patient-based information system. (South African Government, 2020).
❏ Are eHealth systems the future of healthcare?
Yes, In 2020, the National Digital Health Strategy was being shaped by COVID-19. As South Africa tackles the pandemic, we are tasked with the imperatives of tracking the disease, treating patients, and monitoring healthcare systems. To monitor the virus and work towards flattening the curve, South Africa was actively involved in the processes of screening, testing, diagnosing, contact-tracing and isolation. Because more than 28 000 healthcare workers have been mobilised to screen, test and track, innovations in mHealth are urgently needed to capture data.
Competency: Scholarship
❏ Are you managing to collaborate as a group?
Yes, my group is managing to collaborate well. ❏ What strategies can you and your team implement to ensure the successful completion of your Presentation 2?
We me up outside of school hours, meaning that we spent a lot of time going through and revising the presentation if the hours are added to the normal allocated time in the HSS 2 course. We divided up the work.
History of Medicine
❏ Have your parents or grandparents ever related an incident from the past that reflected the policies of apartheid healthcare?
No, my grandparents are Kenyan and don't stay in South Africa. ❏ Have you or anyone you know had a current experience that reflects the impact of apartheid and segregationist policies on our current healthcare in South Africa?
Apart from the long waiting times in hospitals, No, I've been very fortunate.
Overall Module Reflection:
Commentaires