Applications of ICT in health care and medicine.

1. Keeping patients records/information.

Computers are used to store patients records and information about

the patient that is entered by the doctor.
In the old manual system, records of patients used to be written in
the book and doctors used to record/write the patients detail on the
patients card. This made retrieval of information being difficult. At
the moment, the patients detail can be stored on a central database
stored on a file server. This information can be easily shared by all
people using the network. This makes efficient retrieval or access of
patients information.

2. Patient monitoring.
Computerized patient monitoring systems are used to help doctors
in monitoring patients conditions like blood pressure, heart rate,
temperature, and blood oxygen levels using sensors.
The patients that are monitored are always in critical conditions
that require continuous and accurate monitoring to provide nurses
and doctors with an alert in case the condition being monitored
goes beyond the extreme limit.

3. Magnetic resonance imaging.(MRI)

It is a technology in which the patient's body is scanned using very
large magnets.
How it operates- the patient's body on a table is moved into a large
magnetic machine. The magnetic machine then scans a small area
of the patients body at a time and sends the image known as slice
to an MRI computer. This MRI computer reconstructs the image into
a two or three dimensional form so the it can be viewed.
The MRI images are used for showing abnormalities of the brain
such as strokes, tumours, infections and haemorrhages and can be
used to detect the diseases of the neck and the spine.

4. Computer Axial Tomography(CAT)

This is basically an x-ray tube that rotates in a circle around the

patient taking as many as 30 pictures in a few seconds as it rotates.
The multiple x-ray pictures are reconstructed by a computer in 3D
axial slice images. each image can be examined separately. this
scanning is very useful in detecting brain tumours.

5. Medical expert system.

Is a program that analyzes questions input by a medical practioner

and provides answers at the level of a medical expert in a particular
field .
This system is useful in providing support for making decisions as it
can also suggest alternatives or other issues to be considered.
Parts of a medical expert system.
1. Knowledgebase- is a part that contains a large volume of
information in a particular field e.g. different types of
diseases, their symptoms and possible treatments.
2. Inference engine - is the art that analyzes the input data using
reasoning methods and the knowledge base to arrive at a
conclusion. it also provides the user with an explanation of
how it arrived at its conclusion.
3. Interface- One needs to interact with the system for it to work
properly.
4. Rule base.
Examples of medical expert systems
1. mycin
2. dentral
Advantages of a medical expert system.
1. Can indicate the range of possible health problems based on
the known symptoms.
2. Gives support in making decisions about a specific disease
which a doctor may be unsure of a lack of knowledge or
experience.
3. Can be developed and kept up to date as new discoveries are
made and knowledge is advanced.
4. Can show the concepts it used to arrive at its conclusions.
Disadvantages of medical expert system.
1. It lacks Judgement and intuition, which are sometimes vital in
diagnosis.
2. It cannot learn From mistakes.

6. Telemedicine
It is a technology that allows doctors to offer healthcare services
online to patients leaving in remote sites. In this technology,
patients can visit a doctor online an doctors can treat their patients
at a distance.

Doctors are able to send x-rays to radiologists hundreds of miles

away an transmit video images of patients to specialists for instant
consultations. doctors can match their patients radiographic
information in a distance laboratory to help determine diagnosis and
treatment.