Saving lives with Google for patient data

Patient safety is at risk due to poor availability of patient data. This was revealed last week in a survey by the Federation of Medical Specialists among more than 1,100 medical specialists. Medical mistakes are lurking. I recognize the problem.

As a physician, I also once almost gave a patient a medication with a contraindication because this knowledge was far hidden in the record. And as an AI scientist working on solving this problem every day, I know that the mountain of patient data is only getting bigger and more cluttered. Most of the time, as a medical professional, you spend more time during your workday searching for a needle of medical information in a haystack than you do in healing and helping a patient. Precisely because I know both perspectives well, I know that this can be done differently. Can be done better. Already today.

Already today, medics in a hospital can pull out all available clinical data from various systems with a few mouse clicks. Information neatly lined up. They no longer have to search or miss anything. Thanks to smart and super-safe technology.

Wrong solutions

In my view, we are focusing on the wrong solution in healthcare. It's not just a matter of tying ICT systems together. Or demanding ad nauseam that healthcare professionals record patient data in a strict, structured way. Ticking boxes, in other words. We have been trying that for thirty years. It costs tons of money and energy and does not lead to improvement of patient care.

Search problem

We do not have a registration problem within the Dutch health care system, but a search problem. And anyone who has ever used Google knows that it doesn't matter where something is located. Because a good search engine can pull up the information you need in a split second.

The Google for patient data already exists. We as Delphyr can already reap a lot of low-hanging fruit without changing rules, thanks to high-tech solutions. And don't get me wrong: By this I simply mean saving patients' lives. Fewer misses, timely diagnosis and treatment. It also increases physicians' job satisfaction and reduces the time they spend on administrative hassles by up to 90 percent, making healthcare better, more affordable and more accessible.

Data availability

And if we take a few extra steps, we can also work on the fruit that hangs a little higher. What is needed for that? A minister with decisiveness who ensures that uniform governance is used everywhere. Who removes barriers for innovative companies that increase data availability. And who ensures that hospitals implement smart solutions more quickly.

Who we also need are hospital administrators with common sense and follow-through who will do everything they can to keep data flowing inside and outside their hospitals. Who make sure that small doors can be opened in the system so that medics in other hospitals can seek information at the source. Good availability of patient data saves lives. The technological solution is at hand. So what are we waiting for?

Michel Abdel Malek is founder and CEO of Delphyr, an AI platform that supports doctors and nurses with administrative tasks and unlocking data in the EHR. As an anesthesiologist and AI researcher, he saw how bad data leads to worse care. With a team of engineers and data scientists, he is developing intelligent models that ease the administrative burden of healthcare providers by up to 90 percent. Meet him at Zorg & ict (07.E029)