Case Example
Let’s examine how far we have travelled: Journey from 1980 to 2014
Moving forward from the paper-driven to an electronic system of communication has been a long journey that is still in its early stages of development.
eMilestones since 1980
| 1980 | Worldwide, the number of computers in use reaches 1 million. |
| 1989-1990 | Tim Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web. |
| 2000 | Application service providers — companies that rent Web-based meeting applications (versus software installed directly onto a computer) — explode onto the scene. |
| 2004 | Google indexes more than 8 billion pages on the web (accessible by search engines). More than 40 times this amount is said to be held in the “deep web” which is accessible by searchable databases. |
Adopted from:
Corbin Ball Associates (2005). Technology – How to use it better: 1980- 2005 – A 25 Year Timeline of Meetings Technology Innovation: Retrieved from
www.corbinball.com/articles_technology/index.cfm?fuseaction=cor_av&artID=2590
Additional Source:
www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/pubs/system-regime/2011-hcs-sss/index-eng.php#a13
Today
The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care in Ontario describes the responsibilities of the Technology Management and Solutions Integration Branch:
Responsible for developing and maintaining Information and Information Technology solutions for ministry clients including public health, health promotion, labs, community health centres, health system information management and investment, corporate systems support, and performance management. See http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/common/ministry/default.aspx
Considerations need to be given for initial financial investments along with sustainability aspects.
Canadian Health Infoway is an independent, not-for-profit corporation initiated through the Canada’s First Minister in 2001. This site is funded by the Government of Canada. To learn more about the importance of Information & Technology Infrastructure and related initiatives see, https://www.infoway-inforoute.ca/index.php/about-infoway.
For information on the strategy for British Columbia’s technology, see this report: http://engage.gov.bc.ca/bcjobsplan/files/2015/02/TechnologyStrategy2012.pdf
The Future
The hope for the future is to have a truly harmonized information and communication infrastructure that includes
- clear and effective information and communication infrastructures and
- interoperable public health and primary care communication systems and electronic record systems (Electronic Medical Record; Electronic Health Records).