Throughout this series the introduction of technology into the health care system has been framed as something positive, with benefits for patients, health care providers and perhaps even a potential for saving money. But technology can also contribute to adverse medical events and is even the cause of accidental deaths.
The issue of patient safety exploded into public consciousness in the United States with the 1999 publication of the book To Err is Human. Not only were thousands of people dying unnecessarily each year due to mistakes within hospitals and clinics, but no one really knew what was going on and what the actual numbers were. Dr. Ellen Balka, the principal investigator in the Action for Health Project has had a long-standing interest in the new healthcare discipline of patient safety, which looks at the reporting and prevention of medical errors. Balka and Doyle-Waters point out that Canada—as elsewhere—does not have good processes to gather information about these problems. We don’t even really know what’s going on.
How far have we come since the Romanow Report - and how far do we have to go?Six years ago the Canadian government released the Romanow report which made recommendations on the future of health care in Canada—a perennial priority issue for almost everyone. This report also formed a partial basis for the Action for Health Project. Dr Ellen Balka, the principal investigator for the research quoted the report in her proposal stating that “leading-edge information, technology assessment and research are essential foundations for all of the reforms outlined.”
When we are healthy we don’t think of our bodies, in fact we might be quite oblivious to them. But when we become ill, that’s all we think of. A single aching tooth can dominate everything in your life.
Anne McCulloch wrote her master’s thesis on the subject of how people use web portals or entry points to seek health information both in English and French. She begins her work with this intriguing concept of how health might be defined—presumably staying healthy is one reason people try to get answers.