EHealth

1
E-Health
Opportunity or threat to the medical library
profession?
Josephine Marshall The Walter and Eliza Hall
Institute of Medical Research Melbourne
Australia marshallj_at_wehi.edu.au
2
E-HealthThe use in the health sector of digital
data for clinical, educational and administrative
purposes

• Hype?
• Viable new information business?

http//www.noie.gov.au
3
1999-2000

• Winning diagnosis for e-health
• Health is shaping up as one of the big
  business sectors of the net
• E-Health will change the nature of medical
  communication
• E-Health will restructure global heath care
  systems
• E-Health will save lives

4
October 2000

• dotCom dotBombs dotGones

January 2001
Merger and take over a means of survival for
Dot Coms
5
docs.com

• Doctor desktop a misnomer
• Menduno M. docs.com. Hospital and Health Networks
  2000

websurveymd.com

• Physicians still under utilize the internet
• Physicians sceptical of benefit of internet to
  healthcare
• http//websurveymd.mt01.com/

6
Top 5 Physician Web Portals
Best clinical content
High Quality
Top free site for content
Relevant news content
Dynamic community resources
Berkowitz, L e.MD Online Fall 2000
7
Reams Of Information,Some Of It Even Useful

• Has the internet made a difference in medicine?
• Harvesting medical information off the web is no
  less tricky for professionals in medicine than
  anyone else
• Practicing medicine on the web a dangerous and
  addictive habit

Zuger, A New York Times Oct 25, 2000
8
The Informationist A New Profession

• Complicating demands of literature retrieval
• Techniques involved not easy to teach, time
  consuming
• Physicians do not, and never will have time to
  look for answers to clinical questions

Davidoff, F and Florance, V Ann Int Med June 2000
9
Librarian to Informationist

• A crucial role
• Extension of our professional role
• Linking librarian to e-health

10
Librarians In E-Health

• Familiar with values in access, management,
  preservation
• Unfamiliar with e-commerce methods
• Comfort levels change when information becomes a
  commodity

11
For Physicians By Physicians

• Access away from traditional physical site
• An aggregator of resources
• Impact on library budgets

12
A Health Information Action Plan For Australia

• Australian Health Libraries Submission
• Librarians have education and experience
• Working knowledge of field
• Empirical experience meeting information needs
  of health professionals and consumers
• Collaborative nature of Australian health
  libraries

13
Health Online Action Plan

• Goals
• Develop national standards for health information
  management and IT that are compatible with
  international standards activity
• Training and support for health care workers and
  consumers to encourage uptake and use of
  information technology

http//www.health.gov.au/healthonline/action.htm
14

• Foster research and development and best practice
  in the use and implementation of online
  technologies in the health sector
• Expand development of decision support services
• Increase use of online applications to support
  efficient clinical practice
• Expand markets for Australian online health
  services

http//www.health.gov.au/healthonline/action.htm
15
Medical Librarians In The Knowledge Century

• Key stakeholders
• Leaders in health information community
• Ideally suited to the e-health world