Quote Of The Year

Timeless Quotes - Sadly The Late Paul Shetler - "Its not Your Health Record it's a Government Record Of Your Health Information"

or

H. L. Mencken - "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong."

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Taking The Day Off Given No Pressing E-Health News! Another Sad Story To Tell However.

Great fun watching the grandchildren hunt for those little morsels of oval chocolate - so fondly remembered as Easter Eggs.

Not sure why Easter is so chocolate rich? Commerce I guess.

Happy Easter if you celebrate the festival!

David.

p.s. An item to get off the chest.

While recovering in hospital last week, in a four bed ward, I listened, as I could not avoid it with only curtains in the way, as an oncologist explained to a 90+ year old that he as now beyond help and would die of his cancer fairly soon. They wanted to make sure all the family understood this and asked could they call him after they next visited.

The display was just the grossest lack of caring for the old man's feelings and privacy and my wife almost burst out in tears - she had been opening his packaged lunch and dinners as his hands were fairly arthritic.

He was a sweet old man and the way this news was spread all over the room as truly awful.

Just saying we need to do better with more than the myHR!  How would you suggest we fix this sort of problem?

D.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a tricky one David, to create a solution may end up creating a stigma. Patient dignity is at the heart of Kelsey's mantra, wonder if he could provide some insight or if this is something worthy of inclusion in the Strategy?

John Scott said...

David, I agree that the behaviour was appalling and certainly could have been so much better, particularly if the medico had thought to discuss these types of conversation with a palliative care clinician.

Introducing the MyHR into the frame, as metaphor and existing 'fact' raises two different issues.

The first is that the MyHR cannot be addressed absent placing the MyHR concept within a human social network construct and specific context. The MyHR is, after all, a repository. What goes in and what goes out and under what conditions are decisions that need to be made in the human social network context. Unfortunately, Privacy has been an all too blunt tool.

Second, to borrow from the military, we are actually talking about Rules of Engagement. Specifically, we are talking about:
1. Rules of Disclosure
2. Rules of Deployment

Rules of Disclosure would cover the medico telling the patient about the fact that his/her life is ending quite soon. What conditions govern this disclosure?

In regard to Rules of Deployment, the question is how do you manage the disclosed information in such a fashion that it does not spread to quarters where it was not intended to go?

There are an array of other circumstances which can give rise to even greater concern for the health and indeed life of an individual.

There is presently no purposeful human social network construct surrounding the MyHR and as such, it is unable to establish Rules of Engagement surrounding clinical and other information included in or extracted from the MyHR. This represents another nail in the coffin for the concept and design of the MyHR.