The use of information technology in healthcare is not just about improving efficiency or enhancing patient experience, it also plays a huge role in increasing patient safety, according to Prof Jane Grimson from Trinity College Dublin's centre for health informatics.
Electronic health records, e-prescribing, e-clinics and online video consultations are just some of the ways that information technology can be incorporated into the health system, Prof Grimson explains.
The centre is currently working on an electronic records system at the national referral centre for epilepsy in Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.
There are also plans to introduce a telemedical service to the epilepsy unit in Beaumont.
This will facilitate online consultation, videolinks and the electronic transfer of patient records and tests prior to the transfer of a patient to Dublin.
In general, medical record systems in Ireland are very fragmented, with patients' test results and doctors' reports found in different facilities and even in different areas of the one hospital, according to Prof Grimson. As a result, tests are often repeated because a doctor can't get access to an original record. This delays treatment and increases costs.
An electronic health record system would avoid this, she explains. The big challenge is to get different systems to "talk to each other" and therefore avoid duplication and the risk of data entry mistakes, she says.
The centre has also developed a prototype for a diabetes e-clinic, with handheld machines that diabetes sufferers can use to check their blood glucose levels.
This machine can communicate with a computer or telephone line and access a simple decision-support system which will interpret patients' blood glucose levels and let the patients know if they need to attend the diabetes clinic.
Using this system, patients attend the clinic only when there is a need and doctors at the clinic can spend more time with patients who are not stable.
A system such as this is ideally suited to a chronic disease where patients understand their own condition and feel comfortable and confident using it, according to Prof Grimson.