scholarly journals Information and communication technologies in primary healthcare facilities in Egypt

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (01) ◽  
pp. 88-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taghreed M. Farahat ◽  
Nagwa N. Hegazy ◽  
Maha Mowafy

BackgroundThe health sector has always relied on technologies. According to World Health Organization, they form the backbone of the services to prevent, diagnose, and treat illness and disease. It is increasingly viewed as the most promising tool for improving the overall quality, safety and efficiency of the health delivery system.Aim of the studyThis was to assess the current situation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in primary healthcare in the terms of describing and classifying the existing work, identify gaps and exploring the personal experiences and the challenges of ICTs application in the primary healthcare.Subjects and methodsA mixed research method in the form of sequential explanatory design was applied. In the quantitative phase a cross-sectional study was conducted among 172 family physicians using a predesigned questionnaire. Followed by qualitative data collection among 35 participants through focused group discussions.ResultsNearly half of the physicians have ICTs in their work and they were trained on it. None of them developed a community-based research using ICTs technology. Training on ICTs showed a statistically significant difference regarding the availability and the type of ICTs present in the workplace (P<0.05). Focused group discussion revealed that the majority of the participants believe that there is poor commitment of policymaker toward ICTs utilization in the primary care. Nearly 97% thinks that there is insufficient budget allocated for ICTs utilization in the workplace. Almost 88% of the participants demanded more incentives for ICTs users than non-user at the workplace.ConclusionsICTs resources are underutilized by health information professionals. Lack of funds, risk of instability of the electric supply and lack of incentives for ICTs users were the most common barriers to ICTs implementation thus a steady steps toward budget allocation and continuous training is needed.

Author(s):  
Malina Jordanova

Brought to life by contemporary changes of our world, e-health offers enormous possibilities. In the World Health Organization’s World Health Assembly resolution on e-health, WHO has defined e-health as the cost-effective and secure use of information and communication technologies in support of health and health-related fields, including healthcare services, health surveillance, health literature, and health education (WHO, 2005). It is impossible to have a detailed view of its potential as e-health affects the entire health sector and is a viable tool to provide routine, as well as specialized, health services. It is able to improve both the access to, and the standard of, health care. The aim of the chapter is to focus on how e-health can help in closing one gap - optimizing patient care. The examples included and references provided are ready to be introduced in practice immediately. Special attention is dedicated to cost effectiveness of e-health applications.


Author(s):  
Cheyvuth Seng ◽  
May Kristine Jonson Carlon ◽  
Jeffrey Cross ◽  

Introduction. This paper examines the information literacy self-efficacy of undergraduate students at provincial universities in Cambodia, and to determine whether there are significant differences in information literacy self-efficacy in terms of sex, academic year, faculty and university. Method. We adapted the information literacy self-efficacy skills survey by Kurbanoglu and administered to 1,009 undergraduate students at three public provincial universities to measure their confidence on information literacy. Analysis. Descriptive and inferential statistics using independent sample t-test (t-test) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyse the responses. Results. The results indicated that the information literacy self-efficacy of provincial universities in Cambodia was low as the mean scores were lower than the midpoint value of the original scale. Significant differences were also observed across the faculties and universities. This study revealed no significant difference of information literacy self-efficacy between male and female students. However, significant difference was observed between universities due to the performance of infrastructures and supporting funds. Conclusions. The findings indicated that undergraduate students at the provincial universities in Cambodia exhibited low confidence in information literacy. Policy making on information and communication technologies should be well implemented to provide practical skills to students from first to fourth year.


Episteme ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciano Floridi

ABSTRACTThe paper develops some of the conclusions, reached in Floridi (2007), concerning the future developments of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and their impact on our lives. The two main theses supported in that article were that, as the information society develops, the threshold between online and offline is becoming increasingly blurred, and that once there won't be any significant difference, we shall gradually re-conceptualise ourselves not as cyborgs but rather as inforgs, i.e. socially connected, informational organisms. In this paper, I look at the development of the so-called Semantic Web and Web 2.0 from this perspective and try to forecast their future. Regarding the Semantic Web, I argue that it is a clear and well-defined project, which, despite some authoritative views to the contrary, is not a promising reality and will probably fail in the same way AI has failed in the past. Regarding Web 2.0, I argue that, although it is a rather ill-defined project, which lacks a clear explanation of its nature and scope, it does have the potentiality of becoming a success (and indeed it is already, as part of the new phenomenon of Cloud Computing) because it leverages the only semantic engines available so far in nature, us. I conclude by suggesting what other changes might be expected in the future of our digital environment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
İlhami Arseven ◽  
Ahmet Turan Orhan ◽  
Ayla Arseven

The aim of this study is to examine teacher candidates’ perceptions of their own proficiency in using information and communication technologies and their attitudes towards information and communication technologies in terms of gender, major, internet usage frequency and computer ownership. The study group consists of 336 teacher candidates, 98 male (29%) and 238 female (71%) senior students, in different departments at Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Education during the 2017-2018 academic year. The “Proficiency Perception Scale for Using Information and Communication Technologies” and “The Attitude Scale for Information and Communication Technologies” developed by different researchers were administered to the candidate teachers. As a result of the findings obtained from the research, there was no significant difference between proficiency levels of the teacher candidates regarding the use of information and communication technologies. Besides, there was not significant difference between the means of attitude towards information and communication technologies in terms of majors and the internet usage frequency, and between the mean proficiency perception scores of using information and communication technologies with regard to gender. It was ascertained that there was a slightly meaningful difference between the attitudes scores for information and communication technologies in favor of males in terms of gender, and as to computer ownership, there was a low level of difference between both attitude and perception scores in favor of computer owners. The findings are discussed within the scope of literature.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 249
Author(s):  
Rosana Souza de Vargas ◽  
Fabiana Diniz Kurtz

O objetivo do presente trabalho é investigar e analisar os discursos estabelecidos de futuros professores de um curso de licenciatura em Letras - Português e Inglês, de uma universidade comunitária, componente do COMUNG-RS, localizada no Rio Grande do Sul, buscando entender como ocorre a formação dos futuros docentes em língua inglesa e os processos de ensino-aprendizagem que a envolvem, com ênfase para a articulação pedagógica com as tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC) de modo integrado. É um estudo de caso, enquanto método de cunho qualitativo, empregando a análise textual discursiva como método de análise de dados. Dessa forma, como resultado, os discursos revelam que a formação dos futuros professores envolvidos engloba a discussão acerca das TIC, mas não de forma satisfatória, revelando em suas práticas, que os futuros profissionais tendem a uma perspectiva técnica de ensino sobre as TIC. O meio pelo qual tal viés possa ser abandonado, é que a formação de professores considere um ensino transversal a partir das TIC, não apenas em disciplinas isoladas e ainda que seja realizado por meio de todos os profissionais envolvidos.Palavras-chave: Formação de professores. Ensino de língua inglesa como língua estrangeira. Tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC). Análise textual discursiva (ATD).INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES: case study with future language teachers Abstract The aim of this paper is to investigate and analyze the established discourses of future teachers of a degree course in Letters - Portuguese and English, from a community university, component of COMUNG-RS, located in Rio Grande do Sul, seeking to understand how occours the formation of future teachers in English language and the teaching-learning processes that involve it, with emphasis on the pedagogical articulation with information and communication technologies (ICT) in an integrated way. It is a case study, as a qualitative method, using discursive textual analysis as a data analysis method. Thus, as a result, the speeches reveal that the formation of the future teachers involved encompasses the discussion about ICT, but not satisfactorily, revealing in their practices that future professionals tend to a technical perspective of teaching about ICT. The means by which such bias can be abandoned is for teacher education to consider cross-sectional education based on ICT, not only in isolated subjects and even though it is carried out by all the professionals involved.Keywords: Teacher training. Teaching English as a foreign language. Information and communication technologies (ICT). Discursive textual analysis (DTA). TECNOLOGÍAS DE LA INFORMACIÓN Y LA COMUNICACIÓN: un estudio de caso con futuros profesores de idiomasResumenEl objetivo de este trabajo es investigar y analizar los discursos de futuros profesores de un curso de grado en Letras - Portugués e Inglés, de una universidad comunitaria, componente de COMUNG-RS, ubicado en Rio Grande do Sul, buscando entender cómo formación de futuros docentes en lengua inglesa y los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje que lo involucran, con énfasis en la articulación pedagógica con las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) de manera integrada. Es un estudio de caso, como método cualitativo, que utiliza el análisis textual discursivo como método de análisis de datos. Por lo tanto, como resultado, los discursos revelan que la formación de los futuros maestros involucrados abarca la discusión sobre las TIC, pero no de manera satisfactoria, revelando en sus prácticas que los futuros profesionales tienden a una perspectiva técnica de la enseñanza sobre las TIC. El medio por el cual se puede abandonar este sesgo es que la formación del profesorado considere la educación transversal basada en las TIC, no solo en asignaturas aisladas y aunque sea realizada por todos los profesionales involucrados.Palabras clave: Formación de profesores. Enseñanza de inglés como lengua extranjera. Tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC). Análisis textual discursivo (ATD). 


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Muñoz-Miralles ◽  
Raquel Ortega-González ◽  
M. Rosa López-Morón ◽  
Carme Batalla-Martínez ◽  
Josep María Manresa ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
pp. 437-447
Author(s):  
Quazi Omar Faruq ◽  
Arthur Tatnall

For a new technology to be put into use, a decision must be made to adopt it or at least some aspects of it. This article discusses the introduction and use of information and communication technologies in primary healthcare and investigates reasons for adoption, or non-adoption, or these technologies. In particular, the article looks at use of ICT by medical general practitioners, eHealth and the Virtual Doctor Program. The context is adoption of healthcare technologies in the Australian environment, and Information Translation is used as a lens to investigate this.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 206
Author(s):  
José Paulo Lousado ◽  
Sandra Antunes

The pandemic declared by the World Health Organization due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) awakened us to a reality that most of us were previously unaware of—isolation, confinement and the massive use of information and communication technologies, as well as increased knowledge of the difficulties and limitations of their use. This article focuses on the rapid implementation of low-cost technologies, which allow us to answer a fundamental question: how can near real-time monitoring and follow-up of the elderly and their health conditions, as well as their homes, especially for those living in isolated and remote areas, be provided within their care and protect them from risky events? The system proposed here as a proof of concept uses low-cost devices for communication and data processing, supported by Long-Range (LoRa) technology and connection to The Things Network, incorporating various sensors, both personal and in the residence, allowing family members, neighbors and authorized entities, including security forces, to have access to the health condition of system users and the habitability of their homes, as well as their urgent needs, thus evidencing that it is possible, using low-cost systems, to implement sensor networks for monitoring the elderly using the LoRa gateway and other support infrastructures.


Author(s):  
SUNIL JAWLA ◽  
Durg Vijay Rai

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are transforming health services throughout the world. Health information and technologies (HITs) involve application of information processing using computer for storage, retrieval, sharing and use of information and knowledge for communication by a pharmacist. Similarly electronic prescription (EP) services have made the dispensing and reimbursement processes more efficient. Maintenance of patient record become easy by using ICTs. Barcode identification of medicines can be used to reduce medicine administration errors and to improve the medication history of patients. Telecare using digital communications technology provides healthcare consultations and other health care services to rural, old & handicap patients easily and improves their access to healthcare by reducing their hospital attendance. In developing countries like India, it is quite a challenging task to provide access to information and communication technologies. As the geographical diversity is also a challenging for implementation of ICTs at everywhere. Information and technologies are giving a way to access the data all over the globe. ICTs have brought transformation in education in all over the world. Information and technologies are removing barriers from learning education. ICT applications are becoming indispensable tools for traditional and vocational education. In the field of pharmaceutical sciences, ICTs can further enhance the quality of education. As lots of modifications and newer drugs are coming in the market, it is quite a challenging task to a pharmacist to update knowledge to serve the society in an efficient way. ICT can be utilized in health care to improve quality of patient centric services.


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