ICT in Medicine and Health Care

Continuous developments in information and communication technologies (ICT) have resulted in an increasing use of these technologies in the practice of medicine and in the provision of medical care. This paper presents a series of perspectives from different areas of expertise on some of the ways in which ICT has changed the social picture in respect of the practice of medicine. The aim of the paper is to provide a context for further debate, in the form of a Panel Session, where the issue of Human Choice and Computing can be discussed with reference to a set of specific scenarios. The authors of this paper represent a wide variety of disciplines including law, ethics, medicine, philosophy and computer science, thus bringing a broad perspective to begin the discussions. The aim of the session is to provoke further discussion, encouraging input from other disciplines represented by the participants, with a view to identifying the level of human choice in a social arena, which has at its heart a vulnerable community. In this environment, and in this era, the ‘social’ in social informatics has never been more important.

The impact of ICT on the growth of the service industries

This study examines the contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to a growth in services. Data at the firm level is employed to investigate how ICT as a key technology, combined with non-technological determinants, can influence firm performance. The study develops an argument that ICT is one of the major success factors at the present time, and this particularly holds true in the case of service firms, primarily due to their fundamental characteristics of interactivity and intensity of information, which are highly compatible with this technology. The results indicate that the presence of ICT explains the higher growth in productivity and profitability experienced by firms in the service industries. Growth in services was also found to be significantly linked to the level of ICT intensity in service firms, especially when this intensity is complemented by organisational change. The impact of ICT on service firms is assessed in detail, while manufacturing firms and other innovation activities serve as benchmarks.

What has been the impact of ICT on Business?

The use of ICT and technology has affected every aspect of business, transforming not only the way that business is conducted but also creating new business sectors and jobs. The creation of companies like Google and e-Bay which did not exist 10 years ago, was only made possible by advances in technology and the changes that this has created in the way that people behave (currently Google is valued at £44billion – Source BBC 5^th June 05). 

Some examples of the nature of this change include:

Marketing: The use of websites has allowed companies to develop new and cheaper ways of reaching new markets, offering customers the opportunity of buying goods and services whenever they want and often at reduced cost, whilst also enhancing the level of customer service.

This has been coupled with the expansion and use of e-mails which again has been used by business to market their goods and services directly to potential customers, as well as communicating with existing customers and suppliers.

Increasingly the marketing campaigns of businesses include the use of technologies such as Contact Management Systems that allows them to co-ordinate, monitor and report on various aspects of their marketing campaigns in new ways making these campaigns more targeted and effective.

Finance:  Practically all companies now use software programs e.g. Sage or Excel to manage their accounts. This has allowed them to look at financial information when required, monitor and respond to their customers purchasing patterns by e.g. offering discounts and overall improve the management of their finances. The result of this has been for many companies a reduction in their accountancy fees.  

Out of office working: For many businesses the need for staff to be away from the office attending meetings etc. or to be based in another geographical location has grown alongside employee demands for more flexible working patterns. However effective communication and ability to access information etc. remains critical to the productivity of these staff members. Therefore through the use of technology many companies now use a range of technologies to enable this. These include mobile phones, e-mail, broadband, laptops, etc. Thus ensuring that companies are able to be flexible and adaptive depending on their business needs.    

Networks: Virtually all businesses now have or have access to a computer. The existence of two or more computers in an office almost always leads to the creation of a network. The main advantage of doing so is that resources can be shared e.g. printers, internet access, files/information can be managed and shared amongst workstations and the

security of information can be better managed through a network. Increasingly networks are not just confined to the office but are being adopted so that they allow home/remote working that supports changing business needs

What is actually happening with ICT in education?

In 1979, when I first began working with personal computers in schools, there were few enough of them in Queensland schools that for the next few years somebody was able to publish an annual report listing the computers in schools and describing the uses to which they were being put. Twenty years later, there were few, if any, schools in Queensland that did not have Internet connected computers available for use in teaching and learning.Since that time there have been policy developments and new programs. Although the proportion of classrooms in which significant use of ICT is embedded will probably have increased, it seems likely that the application of ICT to teaching and learning in Queensland schools remains "patchy".

ICT in the home

The impact of home computers has attracted interest from researchers over the past decade. In presenting a conference paper on the subject, Downes (1996) noted that children who researched information for projects from electronic sources and were able to 'cut and paste' text and illustrations into a word processor document were often constrained by a school requirement to present the project handwritten in an exercise book. She described one instance, in which a child prepared and presented a project as video - a format which was appropriate to the task - but the teacher was uncertain how to assess work other than that presented in conventional written form and the ultimate compromise was to mark the script rather than the video.

More recently, Fluck (2003) found that students generally have better access to ICT outside school, including in their homes, than in school. Other studies, noted that both teachers and students made more use of computers at home than in school (Meredyth, et al., 1999). These trends, when viewed alongside the 'digital divide' may have significant implications for education.

WHAT'S ICT?

Information and Communications Technology - or technologies (ICT) is an umbrella term that includes all technologies for the manipulation and communication of information. The term is sometimes used in preference to Information Technology (IT), particularly in two communities: education and government. In the common usage it is often assumed that ICT is synonymous with IT; ICT in fact encompasses any medium to record information (magnetic disk/tape, optical disks (CD/DVD), flash memory etc. and arguably also paper records); technology for broadcasting information - radio, television; and technology for communicating through voice and sound or images - microphone, camera, loudspeaker, telephone to cellular phones. It includes the wide variety of computing hardware (PCs, servers, mainframes, networked storage), the rapidly developing personal hardware market comprising mobile phones, personal devices, MP3 players, and much more; the full gamut of application software from the smallest home-developed spreadsheet to the largest enterprise packages and online software services; and the hardware and software needed to operate networks for transmission of information, again ranging from a home network to the largest global private networks operated by major commercial enterprises and, of course, the Internet. Thus, "ICT" makes more explicit that technologies such as broadcasting and wireless mobile telecommunications are included.