- Aug 6, 2012
- 27,990
- 24,794
- 2,405
Canadas police state is nearly bankrupt. Sadly, as we go the way of the Dodo Bird, we do so lacking innovation and adoption of technology that even some 3rd World Countries are applying, especially in healthcare.
www.thestar.com
Although it can sometimes seem as if digital technology has fully saturated every aspect of our lives, there are plenty of sectors that, in fact, barely use it.
There’s a pretty wide spectrum, from early adopters such as finance, professional services and media, to industries like agriculture and hospitality that could be considered holdouts.
Until recently, the health-care industry has generally occupied a position on the lower-tech end of the scale. Things are changing quickly, however, especially over the past 15 months, which saw the pandemic accelerate the digitization of health care.
“It’s not that the technology advanced profoundly during the pandemic,” says Dr. Michael Anderson, a researcher at the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health, part of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. “I think it’s the management and social structures that changed. All sorts of things have been possible from a technological perspective for a long time, but there wasn’t ever the willpower.
“The human component was very slow to change,” continues Anderson, who is also chief medical officer at Verto Health, a health-care technology company. “Necessity unlocked the potential that was already there.”
Canada is still ‘flying blind’ when it comes to using technology to deliver health care
Our lack of a national health data system not only left us ill prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic, it makes it harder to treat patients for everything else.
www.thestar.com
Although it can sometimes seem as if digital technology has fully saturated every aspect of our lives, there are plenty of sectors that, in fact, barely use it.
There’s a pretty wide spectrum, from early adopters such as finance, professional services and media, to industries like agriculture and hospitality that could be considered holdouts.
Until recently, the health-care industry has generally occupied a position on the lower-tech end of the scale. Things are changing quickly, however, especially over the past 15 months, which saw the pandemic accelerate the digitization of health care.
“It’s not that the technology advanced profoundly during the pandemic,” says Dr. Michael Anderson, a researcher at the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health, part of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. “I think it’s the management and social structures that changed. All sorts of things have been possible from a technological perspective for a long time, but there wasn’t ever the willpower.
“The human component was very slow to change,” continues Anderson, who is also chief medical officer at Verto Health, a health-care technology company. “Necessity unlocked the potential that was already there.”
