Malaysia’s digital healthcare transformation places the country as an evolved nation on the world stage. This is because the government was swift to adopt ICT in its healthcare practices. In the late 1990’s Selayang Hospital became the first fully electronic medical record, paperless hospital built as a showcase for other government hospitals in the country.
Compared to many countries in the region and even the world, Malaysia’s foresight in adopting technology in medicine is laudable but it must not stop there. As software replaces hardware and automation eases the use of manpower, cuts down on time, and reduces physical storage places, never has the need for doctors been more crucial for ongoing digital transformation in healthcare.
Doctors are valuable to healthcare on two important fronts. First, doctors know the workflow in hospitals. They are the best people to provide input and guidance for ICT solution providers as the system must adopt to the workflow at the hospitals.
On the second front, doctors in ICT are valuable in helping doctors in clinical service to use the system to retrieve much needed information in patient welfare. With doctors at both ends of the spectrum, the result will be seamless service and continuous improvement of the system in patient healthcare.
According to Dr. Bhavani Devi Balakrishnan, ICT Healthcare Clinical Domain Consultant in the country, it is crucial for solution providers to gain an understanding and a good grasp from doctors when designing a module, its features, and its functionalities. Or else, the system will be of no use to its users.
Dr. Bhavani offers consulting services as well to healthcare management of hospitals that wish to implement the ICT system. She has noticed an obvious gap between solution providers and doctors in healthcare. Rather than using doctors merely as spokespersons to promote a software, she thinks doctors ought to be roped in as consultants to provide their expertise in ICT solutions.
She urges that solution providers use doctors in the testing of the workflow of a system and in the implementation phase within a healthcare facility. The system that is created must be one that provides speed, accuracy, and ability to manoeuvre when implemented, bearing in mind, that patient health and safety is of paramount importance.
As the patient is the priority when using a system, it ought to be easily navigated so that it does not burden doctors in hospitals and become a distraction. Dr. Bhavani adds that when doctors are at the helm helping solution providers with guidance in the workflow portion of the system, the time used from the process of patient registration to the where treatment is given can be reduced by at least 50 per cent.
In addition, with a click of a button, the patient’s history, treatment etc .become available. Also, a reliable system has the ability to send the results of investigations from say, radiology or labs, quickly to the ordering doctor. This speed will enable immediate intervention where necessary as the system workflow is exemplary.
Dr. Bhavani notes that in the implementation phase, doctors in ICT play an important role in ascertaining that the glitches are identified and removed. Then comes the crucial stage of training the users of the system, particularly the doctors in clinical service so that efficiency is guaranteed.
Doctors offering their expertise in ICT are known as Product Specialists or Application Specialists. After a number of years of experience, they can become Application Consultants. These roles are interchangeable and roughly bear the same job scope
For Dr.Bhavani, doctors come with a built-in multi-tasking ability, a passion for patient welfare, and a strong learning curve, all of which were necessary during their medical training. These qualities help doctors in transitioning to the ICT industry.
