Title: IMPROVING QUALITY AND ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE BY ADOPTING EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

Issue Number:	Vol. 6, No. 1
Year of Publication:	Jan - 2016
Page Numbers:	41-45
Authors:	Paul Macharia, Upasana Gitanjali Singh, Tranos Zuva
Journal Name:	International Journal of Digital Information and Wireless Communications (IJDIWC) - Hong Kong

Abstract:

Shortage of healthcare workers (HCWs) hampers treatment outcomes in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA). There is also a great need for scalable, cost-effective and long-term strategies in healthcare. The benefits of eGovernment, the integration of innovative Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to conveniently provide access to services and data, are yet to be realized. m-Health is an emerging concept with potential to revolutionize delivery of healthcare. Mobile phones and other emerging technologies have the potential to change healthcare for the better when used as an enabler to provide immediate and secure access to critical clinical information. This exploratory study aims to discover ideas and insights on the integration of emerging technologies with Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The research identifies constraints and concerns associated with the setup of EHR systems as well as outline the potential for integrating emerging technologies to the provision of quality access and healthcare and treatment outcomes.