Technology for the People: Community Networks

Chairperson:

Avrum Bluming, M.D., M.A.C.P, President, Los Angeles Free-Net

Panelists:

Richard Bryant, LaPlaza Telecommunity Foundation, Inc.

Barbara G. Smith, Maryland State Department of Education

• STATEMENT OF THE SUBJECT

Accurate medical information saves lives. This information resides in repositories around the world, including medical texts, journal articles, conference proceedings, and the notebooks of investigators. A stricken patient, and those who love the patient, are powerfully motivated to access such information. Community networks have the ability to harness the technology of information retrieval, providing life-saving information when it is most needed.

• KEY ISSUES, INCLUDING THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY

The following issues must be addressed in order to create an effective linkage to current, accurate medical information and the consumers of health care services:

1. How is the accuracy of the medical information determined and by whom? Are creative ideas admissible, or only approaches which have been validated by confirmed clinical trials? Is there a role for patient-to-patient information exchange in this system?

2. In what format is the information made available (raw data, abstracts, graphs, prepared summaries)?

3. Outcome management is the evolving litmus test for the effectiveness of approaches used in health care delivery. Is there a way outcome management can be used in assessing the efficacy of this form of information access and delivery?

4. How can utilization of this resource be assessed so that its effective use may be maximized?

• ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND PRIORITIES OF KEY SECTORS

1. Communities: It is easy to dream about an effective system of health-related information which will help develop a better informed consumer population of health care services. This type of information should be an integral part of the resources available through public libraries. Children must be taught the life-enhancing and life-saving value of this information resource. To meet this challenge we must all be teachers, and our schools must help teach students the power of information, provide the training to access it, and sharpen the ability of students to critically assimilate information and convert it into knowledge.

2. Policy makers: Recognize the efficiencies of this information resource, which can decrease unnecessary (and costly) physician-patient interactions, publicize good health maintenance measures, allow for earlier, more effective medical intervention (when appropriate) and enlist all of us in the fight to preserve and enhance our individual well being and that of our communities. With this recognition must come the support necessary to help it succeed.

3. Health care providers: Shoulder the responsibility (now borne by the popular media) to provide the information at the heart of this system. By providing accurate medical information which can be accessed whenever it is needed, and questioned so that it is not misinterpreted, health care providers can make their services more effective, devote their energies to remaining challenges, and support the well being of us all.