Country Focus of eHCD
Focusing on country impact
The objectives of the eHCD programme are to:
- strengthen the ability of Member States to address health problems through the use of eHealth applications for prevention, diagnosis and patient management (eHCD applications);
- assist Member States in establishing safe and reliable eHCD applications through the adoption of sets of basic requirements for services covering policy, quality and safety, access and use;
- develop norms, standards, guidelines, information and training material and foster research on eHCD applications in support of the establishment of effective health services by Member States.
Benefits of eHCD
Main focus on primary health care.
By connecting health workers to primary health-care centres and connecting these centres electronically to departments and referral centres in hospitals for the exchange of data, access and cost-effectiveness may be effected:
- direct tele-consultation between the community health worker and a relevant hospital specialist can reduce professional isolation and provide opportunities for continuing education to the community health practitioner (e.g. tele-cardiology founded on the exchange of digitalized ECG, digitalized echocardiology or digitalized stethoscopy and tele-radiology based on the exchange of digitalized X-ray images). Tele-consultations take specialists to the primary health-care level;
- tele-consultations may reduce the need for patients to attend hospitals, saving them both time and money. Hospitals can then focus their resources on patients who may benefit from treatment at the secondary level of health service;
- similar advantages can be obtained through an eHealth-based hospital referral system founded on digitalized data obtained through applications of essential health technologies;
- eHealth can become a key driver for improved cost-effectiveness when applications such as electronic patient records, smart cards, physician order entry, medications systems and digitalized diagnostic equipment are available;
- access to comprehensive, secure electronic health records has been shown to improve the quality of care and patient safety. Improved knowledge of the patient’s history and previous medical interventions facilitates appropriate treatment;
- eHCD can strengthen systems to reduce medical errors through the provision of vital information, alerts and guidance on best practice;
- eHealth can also improve the cost-effectiveness of nursing, care and administrative work;
- e-Learning products targeting health-care professionals, patients and the general public may be effectively channelled through the primary health-care sector.
Secondary health-care systems can also be strengthened through:
- shared tele-based services in disciplines such as pathological anatomy, enabling hospitals to read digitalized microscopic specimens together;
- tele-consultations with tertiary hospitals in such fields as tele-laryngoscopy and tele-laparoscopy.