Healthcare in India

A report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) reveals that patients living in low-income countries experience as many disability-adjusted life years lost due to medication related harm than those in high-income countries.

 

For patients in hospital, the impact of clinical errors is greater, and this may be attributed to the complexity of certain diseases and the use of complicated medication regimes.

 

In children and elderly, medication errors often occur due to administration of wrong dosage, incorrect therapeutic route and a failure if the patient does not follow the prescribed treatment.

The Crucial Role of Digital Tools for Better Patient Outcomes
Today, with the increase in disease profiles and the influx of information available across online mediums, there is a dire need to have a platform that can provide filtered, precise and reliable medical information. Moreover, as the pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges for the healthcare industry, the need of the hour is a database with different treatment types used for both non-communicable and communicable diseases.

 

Considering this, digital healthcare technologies such as Clinical Decision Support (CDS) systems are providing healthcare professionals with innovative diagnostic and treatment solutions that enable them to deliver quality patient care.

CDS systems improve patient safety, discard unnecessary tests, reduce cost, and increase satisfaction of patients and clinicians.

 

The platforms use biomedical information, patient-specific data or a mechanism that integrates knowledge and data to present useful information to the doctor when healthcare is delivered, enabling quicker action.

 

All healthcare professionals and hospitals should use CDS systems that can provide them information that is verified by doctors who have years of experience.

 

It is imperative to understand that clinical errors do not occur due to medical negligence, in fact they include a range of honest errors and innocent mistakes which are beyond the healthcare provider’s control, despite enough caution. We experienced an onslaught and sudden surge in use of healthcare technologies owing to the pandemic. In the post pandemic, the trend of virtual care is anticipated to grow even more that will ensure smarter and quality care. And when we say digital healthcare technologies are here to stay, the rationale is to not get rid of paper record, but to adopt more patient-centric methods.

 

 

read the entire article at https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/a-case-for-eliminating-medical-errors-with-evidence-based-decision-support/82818497