Assignment9HauckOrinPitts

Assignment9HauckOrinPitts

To Do

• 1. please work as a group (minimum: 2 members; max: 6 members) and submit one answer as a group (clearly identifying the members of your group)
• 2. Read:
  • Chapter 8 in Ben Shneiderman's book entitled "The New Medicine: E-Healthcare" (lecture on Oct 27)
  • Chapter 9 in Ben Shneiderman's book entitled "The New Politics: E-Government" (lecture on Oct 29)

Question 1

discuss what YOU consider the two major influences of information and computer technology on healthcare with comments on how these developments have changed:

• the healthcare business
• the doctor/ patient relationship (pluses and minuses)

Question 2

assume you need to inform yourself about some medical problem or issue (e.g.: high blood pressure, hip surgery, torn ACL or Achilles tendon, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), you want to travel to a country in Africa (any precautions needed?), ....) - choose one example from the list or one chosen by yourself and

• explore the WWW about it, and
• describe what you found out and did not find out?

Question 3

as elections are coming up on November 4, 2008:

• identify the major differences between elections in 1980 (before the Internet, Social Networking, blogs, ....existed) and 2008!
• which new possibilities do you personally see as positive or negative developments?

Group response

1. Members of the Group

Mason Hauck, Amanda Orin, Stephanie Pitts

2. Question 1

One of the biggest influences of information and computer technology on healthcare has been the use of the internet to share ideas and information about healthcare. Because the internet has become such an important venue for the movement of ideas and information pertaining to healthcare, online communities have emerged which attempt to make both patients and doctors more informed and give them a way to communicate with a wider range of experts and peers than was previously possible. This source of knowledge has allowed doctors and patients to work together more efficiently and to consider a wider perspective during treatment in some cases, but in other cases, the patient's trust in the doctor has been harmed, because the patient has gained an incorrect or incomplete understanding of their medical issue from the internet.

Another effect of computer technology on healthcare has been the digital storage of some patient records. Some medical clinics, such as Wardenburg Health Center have started gathering information from patients and storing this information on an internal network. These systems have not yet extended to internet sharing because of the obvious security issues, but these digitized records have made gathering background history easier in situations where patients are not seeing the same doctor consistently. Digital storage of patient information has allowed more doctors to be familiar with a patient's history more quickly and conveniently, but if each doctor is not conducting the thorough patient interviews that are necessary without these records being stored on a network, doctor-patient interaction decreases which can also harm the quality of service that a patient receives.

3. Question 2

If a person needs to inform him/herself of some medical problem or issue, such as Hughes Syndrome, there is a lot of information available on the WWW. For instance, a simple search on Google results in your typical search result list, as well as eight additional categories at the top of the list pertaining to medicinal searches: Treatment, Symptoms, Tests/diagnosis, Causes/risk factors, For patients, For health professionals, From medical authorities, and Alternative medicine. This allows for not just your usual relevance, but specialized relevancies based upon a particular portion of Hughes Syndrome that a person might be interested in. In this case, it is important to understand what Hughes Syndrome is and the risks involved with having it with or without treatment.

Hughes Syndrome is the more pronounceable name of the hereditary disorder "antiphospholipid antibody syndrome", which is also known as "sticky blood syndrome". It is generally more common in women than in men (although overall it is a rare disorder), and can cause pregnancy complications such as recurrent miscarriages, in addition to other symptoms. Treatment usually depends on the severity of the clotting, which determines the strength of the blood thinner: aspirin, heparin, or warfarin/coumadin. There are other treatments that can be done, such as immunosuppressives, but the blood thinners mentioned above are the most common.

In order to be properly diagnosed, a visit to the doctor is required (especially if treatment is needed): a consultation should include a history of family health (the idea is to know if there is a previous family history of Hughes Syndrome) and blood tests to confirm a suspected diagnosis. There appears to be no issues with missing information about Hughes Syndrome.

In addition to Google, there are a few popular health and medicine related sites that people find useful to search on for answers: WebMD, AllRefer Health, Mayo Clinic, WrongDiagnosis, and MedicineNet. It is common on these sites that questions about certain conditions or symptoms are posted in the forums, and certified doctors and nurses respond as best as they can within generally a 24-hour time period to these questions - though, they too strongly encourage an actual visit to a doctor over what can be called a "forum diagnosis".

Resources:

http://www.hughes-syndrome.org/index.htm

Google Results

4. Question 3

The elections in 1980 came at a critical point in American history. Wikipedia relates that America was going through "a wrenching period of low economic growth, high inflation and interest rates, and intermittent energy crises. Added to this was a sense of malaise that in both foreign and domestic affairs the nation was headed downward." The economic and social crises are incredibly similar to those we face in 2008.

In 1980 it was not as easy to share information as it is today. Though television, newspaper and radio allowed important speeches to be shared and politicians to get their messages out to the public, the public was not yet able to respond effectively. Today, through youtube.com, campaign sites, special interest groups websites, and information resources, such as Wikipedia, the public is able to access information that enables them to have informed opinions and share them with whoever they desire. You can email a congress man, read up on current affairs, and connect with other voters to discuss ballot initiatives.

For voters who choose to take the mail-in ballot option, or those voters who are willing to commit the time before heading to the voting booth, a new era of politics has arisen via the internet. Social networks can form around specific election issues, politician's campaigns can forward information to voters quickly and efficiently, and people can communicate their opinions succinctly. In many ways the issues are more accessible than ever. Voters can search not only for ballot issues, but with a website like Wikipedia can quickly look up any issue they don't understand. One site that really stands out this election season is BallotPedia.org. One can easily search for amendments, referendums, and county ballot issues for Colorado and many other states. We see this sort of site as a real improvement over past systems of communicating certain campaign issues.

For example, Colorado's Amendment 58 on the ballot this election has complex syntactical composition that makes it difficult to naturally infer the pros and cons of passing the amendment. Ballotpedia.org has a page on Initiative 113, presented on the Colorado Ballot as Amendment 58. They include the wording on the ballot but have sections which spell out in much plainer English what the effects of passing the amendment would be. It shows both the opponents and supporters opinions, and the content is generated by people on both sides. It also has links to the supporter's sites. It allows a voter to literally do instant research on every ballot issue. As long as people are aware of who they're getting their information from and are careful to research both sides of arguments a balanced perspective on both can be obtained. It is harder on the internet to monitor who is saying or posting what on certain issues, but the wealth of information available lets both sides be heard. It should be mentioned that this is time consuming. Because there is so much information, there is a lot of it to sort through. Sites like BallotPedia.org are doing a good job of starting to sort that information into a usable form. Giving citizens a place to start their information search.

In a democracy it is incredibly important to have these sorts of resources for citizens. It allows informed democracy to flourish. It gives power back to the individual and voice back to common people. When voters are informed they can empower themselves and make decisions for the good of their country.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_presidential_election

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Colorado_Initiative_113_(2008)