Minister of Health & Wellness, Dr the Hon. Christopher Tufton yesterday (September 27) provided the world with insight into Jamaica’s efforts to leverage digital solutions for public health while emphasising change management as an important tool for success.
Speaking at a panel discussion, held on the sidelines of the 60th Directing Council of the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) in Washington DC, United States, the Minister said there can be no question of the value of adopting digital solutions, given the pressing challenges in public health, including that of ballooning non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
In Jamaica, he said that adoption is clearly on show with the Health Systems Strengthening Programme for the Prevention and Control of NCDs and which has seen the development and application of digital solutions at the national, subnational and local levels.
Those solutions, he revealed, include telehealth networks to create secure linkages between local health centres and hospitals for specialised care to communities while reducing the burden of travel for NCD patients. At the same time, network integration is to allow functionalities in patient registration, health records, laboratory, outpatient scheduling, pharmacy, and other services.
Among other things, the Minister said, there is also the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR) for which Jamaica inked an agreement earlier this year. The EHR is to allow the seamless management and exchange of patient information across 10 Primary Care and three (3) Secondary Care pilot health facilities. It will also facilitate the tracking of NCD risk factors, early diagnosis and the monitoring of treatment outcomes.
The progress on these solutions, Dr. Tufton explained, has meant the introduction of new information and communications technology infrastructure and equipment with which stakeholders are not necessarily familiar or comfortable.
At the same time, the Minister said the solutions that are being adopted are intended to support primary care reform in Jamaica where many people currently prefer to access their hospitals and not their local health centres for care.
Therefore, to help assure the island of success with the use of the various solutions while helping to change people’s perceptions of their health centres, the Minister said change management, including the training of staff, has had to be given priority in order to cultivate buy-in and people’s sense of ownership of both the process and the anticipated gains.
“The change management component is critical, which is why we have said that accompanying the initiatives around technology has to be a parallel strategy to nudge behaviour around the virtues and the values of institutions where that technology resides and for utilising that institution,” he said.
“It is the same for management. There are many institutions now where we are establishing the tech where the doctors refuse to use the gadgets that they are given. They still want to hold the x-ray film under a light to see what the problem is even though they have a phone that can give them a clearer image of what the problem is. So, if we do not embed in this transition towards greater technology and efficiency – the change management component, it is going to be a lot more difficult,” he added.
The Minister is leading a delegation to the 60th PAHO Directing Council and the 173rd PAHO Executive Committee that includes the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie.