Chaplain's Corner

The “Health Care System”, we sometimes speak of it as if it was a living entity, and I suppose in some respects it is, for it is made up of literally thousands of people who work to provide health care in our Province.  It is made up of doctors and nurses and health care aids, lab technicians, diagnostic technicians, ward clerks, secretaries, administrators, chaplains, janitors, dishwashers, cooks, dieticians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and the list goes on and on.

One of the traditionally challenging aspects of the health care system is record keeping.  We have a whole department here at Bethesda that just keeps track of your health records.  All the notes and lab reports and progress notes written by members of the health care team are carefully collected and stored and believe it or not, kept for at least 10 years after your die.

But, as meticulous as this system is and believe me it is, there is a problem, the problem is that you have health records scattered about in many places.  If you have a doctor, you have a chart there.  If you have been a patient in several hospitals, you have charts in each of them.  If you have seen a specialist, you have a chart there.  If you take prescription drugs, your drug records may be at several pharmacies.  Why is this  a problem?  Because all of these records provide a small piece of the entire puzzles of the health care you receive.
 
Have you ever put together a puzzle?  Well, if several pieces are missing, it can be maddening, and for those who provide care for you in our health care system, not having all the pieces to your health care puzzle can be harmful to your health.

So, Manitoba Health has decided to try to do something about this and it is called electronic health records.  In the age of computers and digital storage and transfer of information, it was only a matter of time before this idea came of age, and in Manitoba, it was born a few years ago.  Since 2007 Manitoba eHealth has been working to get the system of electronic health records up and running in our Province.  Some of the hospitals in Winnipeg have been trialing the system of electronic health records and just before the New Year, an announcement was made that electronic health records are coming to a town near you, they are coming to South Eastman Health/SantéSud-Est Inc.

What difference will this make to you?  The hope and goal of this program is to gather all your important health records and history into a central secure data base that can be accessed by those within the system who need to know this information so that you can be provided with the best possible health care.  For instance, suppose you are found unconscious at work, an ambulance is called and you are transported to the local emergency room but there is no one with you who knows anything about your health history.  If the Emergency Room staff can pull up your health records and history on the computer, they may discover quickly that you have a health condition that will steer them quickly to assess the cause of your unconscious state so that you can be treated quickly.

Sounds like a great idea.  Eventually it is hoped that you could go anywhere in Canada and though the links that will be created between the Provincial electronic health records systems that your records could be accessed in just moments to assist doctors and hospitals anywhere in our nation should you require medical attention.  But we all know that great ideas find their way into the reality of our lives only after considerable work and expense.  This system of electronic health records will cost.  A news released issued back in December 2009 stated that the Provincial Government has committed 150 million dollars to the implementation of the project over the next three years.

You will more than likely hear about this project from time to time in the news, but other than those news stories, most of the work to get this system up and running will take place behind the scenes, unbeknownst to most of us.  So why do I write about this:  Because we have a horrible tendency to be afraid of this kind of advancement.  The “Big Brother” fear of having our every move monitored by the government first came into the public consciousness in 1949 with the publication of the novel Nineteen-Eighty Four by George Orwell.  Since then, from time and time, both secular and religious leaders have excited the fears of people like you and me, especially when it appears that “the government” is gaining too much information, too much power, too much control over our lives.

Many evangelical Christians who spend a lot of time reading and thinking about the prophesies of the Bible, see in this kind of advancement the precursor of the Ant-Christ, one world government/religion of the middle chapters of the book of Revelation, the final book in the Christian Bible.  Should we be afraid of electronic health records?  No more than we should be afraid of the agencies that keep track of our credit histories or the On-Star service provide by General Motors that can keep track of your GM car if you subscribe to the service.

I always approach this kind of advancement with reserve, but not fear.  The reserve grows out of a life long habit of observing the honorable attempt of governments to do good things that so often fall short of the goal.  For example the Long Gun Registry that was estimated to cost 2 million dollars in 1995 but by 2006 had cost over 1 billion.  Worst yet, the hoped for benefits of the Registry have not been seen and now there are moves in our Parliament to scrap the whole program because it has failed to accomplish its goals, even though so much has been spent on it.

I am not predicting the same kind of failure for the electronic health records system, but it will cost more than is anticipated (Ontario’ experience already shows us this) and it will take years to provide the kind of benefits hoped for and undoubtedly the system will face numerous legal challenges from those who believe that our privacy might be compromised by such a system.

The goal of electronic health records is a good one, if the system is able to make advancements in making my medical history and information available to any doctor who ever has the duty to treat me – GREAT!  Knowledge is power and the more quickly any doctor who is treating me can get important information about my health, the better.  Just one caution, don’t be surprised if some raise fears about the government gathering too much information about us and don’t be surprised if it costs far more than is originally estimated.