University E-Health Strategies Report: Analysis of NSW Initiatives

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of e-health strategies implemented in New South Wales (NSW). It begins with an introduction to the government's initiatives, emphasizing patient-centered care and the need to address the increasing health demands of the aging population and those with chronic diseases. The report summarizes the aims of the e-health strategies, focusing on disease prevention, awareness programs, and workforce development. It then analyzes the advantages, such as improved communication and easier access to medical information, alongside the disadvantages, including network dependencies, potential for miscommunication, and limited accessibility in remote areas. The report concludes by emphasizing the need for community involvement, adequate training, and infrastructure development for effective implementation of e-health strategies, acknowledging both the potential benefits and the associated challenges.

Running Head: E- HEALTH STRATEGIES
E- Health Strategies
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Summary..........................................................................................................................................2
Analysis...........................................................................................................................................3
Advantages of e-health strategies................................................................................................3
Disadvantages of e- health strategies...........................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The Government of New South Wales has taken measures for implementing e-health
strategies. The e- heath is step that has been adopted by many countries and it has also been, it is
a easy medium for the people to communicate about their health related issues. The increase in
the ageing population, and increase in the number of people with chronic diseases like diabetes
and cancer. Apart from that the increased number of health related issues, like obesity, both in
the children and adult have raised serious concerns and have called for necessary actions tom be
taken in this regard. The emphasis of the strategies is on providing patient centered care to
people of New South Wales. The aim of the government is to create a system that is more
connected to the people and it is approachable as well (Health.nsw.gov.au. 2017).
Summary
E health strategies were launched with an aim that the it would meet the heath related
needs of the people in New South Wales. There was a need for implementing this strategy
because the health care needs had been changing. The objective behind the strategy is to ensure
that the diseases are not just cured but also prevented (Darkins et al., 2016). Most of the diseases
can be prevented, so the authorities have taken the preventive approach. It is very important for
the people to maintain a healthy lifestyle so that all the illness and diseases can be prevented.
Management of the illness often is not easy, certain diseases, as cancer requires timely attention
and treatment of the disease in time (Blaya, Fraser & Holt, 2012). There is a need for creating
awareness among the people. Various health programs have been launched by the Government to
create awareness about the ill effects of the smoking and alcohol consumption (Rollo et al.,
2016).

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The strategies are:
Providing support and developing the workforce in the health care sector of New South
Wales. Their aim at providing first class patient centered care. Through research and innovation,
new therapies, drugs and procedures are introduced to provide the best quality of health care
services to the people (Peterson et al., 2012). They aim at enhancing the connectivity so that the
hospitals and health care centers can be approached in the time it is needed the most. They focus
on improving the infrastructure so that approach is future focused (Health.nsw.gov.au. 2017).
Analysis
Advantages of e-health strategies
The advantage of e-health care is that communication with the medical pr will be easier
than before, people can easily consult the medical staffs and get relevant information regarding
what needs to be done, the medicines and the treatment that is required. It will, save the time of
people travelling for consultation (Rollo et al., 2016). Keeping e-records will be a lot more
easier, it will save the time of the staffs as well. People can browse through the official website
and get all necessary information about to lead a healthy lifestyle and be free from issues like,
obesity and diabetes (Parikh & Huniewicz, 2015).
Disadvantages of e- health strategies
E- health is based on e-communication, for that the network should be excellent and
more and more people should be connected to network. It is very difficult to deliver the e-health
services aborigines of New South Wales; e-communication is firstly is not that strong in those

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communities. Secondly, the aborigines are not capable of understanding the e- health. There is
requirement of volunteers from the local community who would guide people of the remote
regions (Wilson & Lankton, 2014). Another factor that can become constraints creating
awareness among the people about the ill effects of the smoking and alcohol consumption that is
a very prominent part of the lifestyle of the people (Kawamoto et al., 2015). The services of e-
health can be only be provided to the people that have access to the network, they also require
computer systems in almost every locality or community so that all the facilities can be easily
availed (Boudreaux et al., 2014).
All the patient records will be online and in the computer systems, so if because of any
reason there is system failure, the data will be lost. Communication with the patients will be done
through e-communication, in case of system failure, or if the devices are not properly used, then
there can be miscommunication and there are chances that a situation of Chaos can be raised
because of this. Facilities like telemedicine, which a major element of e- health care will not be
accessible for the people living in remote areas (Eysenbach, 2015). Online consultation facilities
would not be a benefit for most of the people so they will have to visit the nearest health centers
for the treatment of illness (Whiteford et al., 2013).
One of the major drawbacks of the e-health care is that not all the illness and diseases can
be treated through online consultation, so this particular measure is only beneficial for small
medical illness where only primary consultation and health care can help the patients. For big
medical conditions only appointment and guidance can be sought and the treatment facilities will
only be available by visiting the hospitals (Iedema, Mesman & Carroll, 2013).

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Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded for effective implementation of the e- health strategies,
volunteers from the local communities are required so that they can explain the various health
plans that are made for them. Those volunteers need training so that they can communicate about
the e-health to the people of the local communities. A volunteer from their own community will
help people open up and share their problems and health related issues in a better way without
any hesitation. There is will not be any language problem especially in the areas of aborigines.
Training the staffs and the volunteers would require a lot of time and huge cost would also be
involved. Installing the systems foe electronic communication also will be costly for the
authorities. E- Health strategies is an excellent initiative taken by the Government but its
implementation requires lot of cost and efficient planning and infrastructure development.

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References
Blaya, J. A., Fraser, H. S., & Holt, B. (2012). E-health technologies show promise in developing
countries. Health Affairs, 29(2), 244-251.
Boudreaux, E. D., Waring, M. E., Hayes, R. B., Sadasivam, R. S., Mullen, S., & Pagoto, S.
(2014). Evaluating and selecting mobile health apps: strategies for healthcare providers
and healthcare organizations. Translational behavioral medicine, 4(4), 363-371.
Darkins, A., Ryan, P., Kobb, R., Foster, L., Edmonson, E., Wakefield, B., & Lancaster, A. E.
(2016). Care Coordination/Home Telehealth: the systematic implementation of health
informatics, home telehealth, and disease management to support the care of veteran
patients with chronic conditions. Telemedicine and e-Health, 14(10), 1118-1126.
Eysenbach, G. (2015). What is e-health?. Journal of medical Internet research, 3(2).
Health.nsw.gov.au. (2017). NSW State Health Plan: Towards 2021 - NSW State Health Plan.
[online] Available at: http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/statehealthplan/Pages/NSW-State-
Health-Plan-Towards-2021.aspx [Accessed 17 Aug. 2017].
Iedema, R. A., Mesman, J., & Carroll, K. E. (2013). Visualising Health Care Improvement.
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Kawamoto, K., Houlihan, C. A., Balas, E. A., & Lobach, D. F. (2015). Improving clinical
practice using clinical decision support systems: a systematic review of trials to identify
features critical to success. Bmj, 330(7494), 765.

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Parikh, S. V., & Huniewicz, P. (2015). E-health: an overview of the uses of the Internet, social
media, apps, and websites for mood disorders. Current opinion in psychiatry, 28(1), 13-
17.
Peterson, B. E., Kwant Jr, J. W., Cecil, V. C., & Provost, W. A. (2012). U.S. Patent No.
6,343,271. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Rollo, M. E., Aguiar, E. J., Williams, R. L., Wynne, K., Kriss, M., Callister, R., & Collins, C. E.
(2016). eHealth technologies to support nutrition and physical activity behaviors in
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Whiteford, H. A., Degenhardt, L., Rehm, J., Baxter, A. J., Ferrari, A. J., Erskine, H. E., ... &
Burstein, R. (2013). Global burden of disease attributable to mental and substance use
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