Published:Thursday | October 18, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
For years, we have been hearing of the inability of the Government and researchers to get adequate information on cancer in Jamaica.Sure, a registry exists, but the information it contains is apparently only for Kingston and St Andrew. That,...
Published:Wednesday | October 3, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
The issue of medical records was once again thrust into the spotlight with a recent Supreme Court decision which ordered that parents be given access to their baby's health records within 24 hours.The hospital had refused to hand them over. Since...
Published:Friday | September 21, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
The condition in which people are born, grow up, live, work, and age may invariably affect their state of health and well-being as well as impact their health decisions.These are referred to as social determinants of health and include income level...
Published:Friday | September 7, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
It's estimated that at least 25 per cent of Jamaicans have mental illness. Still, we hear that many disorders such as anxiety and depression go undiagnosed, and so when we think about, much more of our population could be experiencing some form of...
Published:Wednesday | August 8, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
Hospitals worldwide seek to reduce the length of time patients are admitted as this not only saves the facility resources but it can also be safer for the patient to be treated and released as soon as possible.According to a study conducted by the...
Published:Saturday | July 14, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
It is no secret that I have been a long-time advocate of healthcare digitisation, recognising how much we could improve the health of our population if we adopted technology.This was what led me to invest in a company in India called Suvarna...
Published:Thursday | June 28, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
If there were to be a disaster at your medical practice, or hospital, such as a fire or, since we are in the midst of the hurricane season, flooding, could you go to a new location, or even work from home and access all your patient and other files...
Published:Friday | June 1, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
Several medical practitioners have indicated that they want to introduce electronic medical records (EMR) but they are not looking at the vast opportunities the technology can bring to modernising health care management, or even the much better...
Published:Thursday | May 17, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
Healthcare is driven by market forces just like any other business. While it is not the conventional, product development and sale or service offering and acquisition business, healthcare encompasses both these concepts. If one is in the...
Published:Friday | April 20, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
The matter of male fertility is generally taboo in the Jamaican context because we men take our sexual prowess quite seriously.Yet we have considerably more 'jackets' than many other nations. But this is by no means just a Jamaican issue. According...
Published:Thursday | April 12, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
Integrating telemedicine into the healthcare system is not as hard as you would imagine, especially given that the systems and other tools are readily available to do so. But if we should begin using telemedicine as a major component of the...
Published:Friday | April 6, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
I have always been fascinated by technology, so although I started my career as an accountant, I was pulled to the technology sphere where I managed to introduce industry-changing technology initiatives in banking, finance and health.I have seen the...
Published:Thursday | March 8, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
Last week, I attended the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, which showcases the best of breed in health and supporting technology.New, improved and emerging technology was on show and it...
Published:Thursday | February 22, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
Jamaica is far ahead of the United States (US) in certain areas of healthcare. About 20 years ago, Jamaica started the process of digitising the health insurance industry, allowing providers to submit claims online in real time.The system is...
Published:Friday | February 9, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
Two weeks ago, my company, Advanced Integrated Systems, participated in the 16th annual Caribbean Neurosciences Symposium in Montego Bay, St James.I was happy to be a part of this event, given its history of facilitating inventiveness and new...
Published:Friday | January 26, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
I have been paying close attention to the reports of the effects of the flu season in the United States, understanding that although we may not get the figures locally as steadfastly as the US reports them, we generally face similar issues during...
Published:Thursday | January 11, 2018 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
The transformative role of technology is boundless as long as we are willing to open our minds to the possibilities. Health technology can be applied to almost every aspect of healthcare to improve efficiency and access. Radiology, though not...
Published:Wednesday | December 13, 2017 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
Traditionally, we think of going to a brick-and-mortar establishment when we want to visit a health professional either in a private practice or at a public facility. But times are changing as access becomes more open with the development,...
Published:Tuesday | December 5, 2017 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
Health sectors across developed and developing countries have long struggled with making improvements to infant and maternal health. The World Health Organisation (WHO) for example, indicates that approximately 830 women die each day from...
Published:Friday | November 3, 2017 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
October was celebrated as breast cancer awareness month and it brought into focus the very long-standing and urgent matter of the effect of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on the Jamaican, Caribbean and world population.Although most deaths each...
Published:Friday | October 20, 2017 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
Health care costs have the capacity to render persons bankrupt and is an expense that Government and all of us will have an interest in keeping as low as possible.The United States (US) is a great example of how high health care costs can have a...
Published:Thursday | October 5, 2017 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
I recently explained and referred to data as the 'new oil', and if we understand the true value of data and what it can do for health care then we would now know that there are boundless opportunities that we can carve out to improve service...
Published:Thursday | September 21, 2017 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
In this digital tech-centric world, data is king and it is time we, as a country, start mining data to underpin critical decisions. At its most basic, this is described as analysing a large amount of data to determine...
Published:Thursday | June 29, 2017 | 12:00 AMDoug Halsall
Last week, I read a story in The Star about a mother of eight who said she had a tubal ligation at one of our public hospitals after her eighth child but had two subsequent pregnancies.Interestingly, she challenged the hospital, and according to the...