With the goal of promoting the empowerment of healthcare patients, Saydex and #viralizando organized the seminar “Digital Citizenry: Health in Your Hands”, which took place on November 27, in Santiago, Chile.
The event featured prestigious national and international experts who debated issues related to access, availability and the use of data recorded during healthcare processes. It also featured the directors of health services and centers, academic authorities, hospital leaders and representatives of municipalities and the Ministry of Health, who analyzed how data can be placed at the disposition of patients.
Noting that current legislation establishes that information belongs to the individual and that accessing it can be difficult, the general manager of Saydex, Juan Rodríguez, stated: “We have to take action to improve patients’ access to their data. The technology is available, the background provided by the Electronic Health Records is in line and there is legislation on the individual’s right to own the information.”
Rodríguez also emphasized that today we are facing a challenge: to ensure that people have easy and secure access to their information. “Patients are the owners of the data and should be empowered to care for themselves with the relevant information and their morbidity profile. The data is there and the current challenge is to work out how to transform it into information that can also support administrators’ decision making,” he said.
At the exhibitions, attendees were able to experience examples of the incorporation of information technologies in different public health establishments and initiatives that have made it possible to support internal administration and improve the quality of healthcare.
Dr. Inti Paredes, a Senior Consultant in Hospital Information Systems at Saydex, presented the different features of “My Health Portal”, a web platform that allows patients to see their relevant personal information – extracted from healthcare treatment.
“The channels of communication are changing, social networks, automated systems and the phenomenon of Big Data present a major challenge for both institutions and patients,” said Paredes. He concluded: “If you take into account that 66.4% of the patients in the United Kingdom go on the internet before a medical appointment and we have 8 million Chileans in the electronic health record, you can see that we have the right environment to create solutions that make seeking healthcare information much more simple.”
