Technology's Future in Public Health

A big part of Public Health is information distribution, because you have to ensure that people have knowledge in order for them to change their actions or their views on certain aspects of life. Without this knowledge people will remain stuck in the same bubble that they have been in for all of their lives perpetuating the same issues. You can see the issue that would have been faced with information distribution in rural areas for example - things are so spread out that people in the past (and still today) have had issues getting to a doctor or hospital when necessary, so how could they have been expected to access this information.


During my interview with Dr. Kenneth Beck of the University of Maryland's School of Public Health I found that the increased flow of information is one of the ways in which he believes technology has best influenced the area of public health. Information can now be spread via cell phones (which many people in even third world countries now possess) and Internet, such as the "Text4Baby" service, getting out information when it is needed, and not after. Social networking sites (for example Twitter and Facebook) are also make the spread of this information much quicker, concise and much more efficient. Whereas in previous times one had to for example wait on a newspaper to find out the latest news, it now spreads via the internet alerting everyone to the latest outbreak of food poisoning for example. But something akin to gossiping and spreading rumors with the use of technology such as the Internet there is also the risk of spreading misinformation. We constantly see websites that have not been verified or researched themselves, as well as websites holding information that is no longer relevant. This is one of the risks we take when we seek to spread knowledge through these sources, which cannot necessarily be readily controlled by anyone.

In regards to incorrect information, websites like Wikipedia often pop into the conversation because viewers edit them and essentially anyone can change what is seen even though it will later be edited and checked for references. But in this time where the wrong information remains, say in regards to someone having AIDS or another disease that information may be the determining factor in how they go about dealing with their [potential] condition.

In the future I only see the bounds reached in the field of Public Health abounding - information is spreading, and for this reason people are becoming more adept at keeping themselves healthier. Whereas today we have many people pre-diagnosing what could be diseases or conditions in their own bodies, I think that with moves made by Public Health Scientists they will soon be diagnosing the mere factors that lead to the symptoms in an effort to prevent the disease altogether. Primary Prevention will abound, much more so than Secondary prevention, which we are all so good at today. I think the extended use of technology and the web will allow for some of the strain to be removed from doctors, and hospitals.

I also see one of the problems of finding patient's medical records being relieved as the use of electronic systems expands; improving the "quality and timeliness of care" ("Most Doctors Aren't Using Electronic Health Records"). I think that the improvement of the timeliness in particular will induce more people to actually go to their doctors office, because they will know that it will not mean spending an entire work day waiting on a rushed and flustered doctor to finally come and see them - thusly increasing the likelihood of their conditions being identified earlier than before.

Credit: Crave UK
The real-time diagnosis of diseases/condition in patients will also increase in the future as scientists are able to establish more tools such as the cell-phone microscope that is able to diagnose Malaria, TB and Sickle Cell.

As far as teaching in this field, students are already coming in with a varied knowledge of the technology used to spread this information; but that knowledge would need to be expanded. For the use of remote teaching groups of people about certain health topics when those people are too far out (in a rural area perhaps) to get to where the "lesson" is being taught.

The future of Public Health is endless with help from technology. I think that some day soon we will make our way up to the top of the healthiest countries if we put some effort into it along with the technology.

Interview with Dr. Beck: (First part of interview was distorted).
http://audioboo.fm/boos/232752-dr-kenneth-beck


Lohr, Steve. "Most Doctor's Arent Using Electronic Health Records." New York Times 19 June 2008, Print.

"Public Health and Technology." Public Health Institute. Public Health Organization, 2009. Web. 7 Dec 2010. .