A client perspective on eHealth

Last week I started another contract with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, until November.  I’m one of three Business Architects collaborating to write a detailed, formal description of the entire Road User Safety Division, in preparation for re-engineering and software acquisition.  It’s a huge job but we are standardizing procedures to collaborate effectively.

This week I was supposed to be working, but ended up in hospital!  I needed intravenous medication for a viral infection, and am now recovering well, thanks to the skill & kindness of staff at Toronto Western Hospital.

This was my first experience as a hospital in-patient, and it was of course scary, painful, uncomfortable, and disempowering.  There were mistakes and delays aplenty, and I wonder how many of them could have been avoided with better eHealth systems.  The doctors were still using paper and telephone to record & communicate medical information quickly.

Now that I have seen some of the complexities that can arise in a hospital, requiring dozens of specialized staff to collaborate without being able to schedule in advance, I’m intrigued to work on eHealth projects.   Medical information management makes Transportation’s licensing rules look easy!