Roughly 1,400 healthcare professionals gathered in Halifax this week for an annual conference to discuss the use of technology in the field.
The annual conference, e-Health26, was at the Convention Centre.
In attendance was Terri LeFort, president of Nordic International, with more than 30 years of clinical and health IT experience.
She tells our newsroom over the course of three days, certain challenges were discussed, such as an aging population and not enough staff.
“We have issues with things across the county such as wait lists for treatments and procedures,” says LeFort. “Lack of clinicians, which is a global challenge these days.”
They focused on lessons learned and technology to make healthcare more efficient, safer and accessible.
Artificial Intelligence
A term brought up several times and something that LeFort referred to as the “buzzword” of the day, is Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“I’ve been to a number of conferences over the last couple of months, globally. AI is certainly first and foremost in people’s minds [for] anyone that has anything do with healthcare technology in Canada,” explains LeFort.
She says there is still a lot of work to be done on electronic health and medical records, but we are on the way.
“That sets up the foundation to have the data for artificial intelligence to help us solve some of the problems to make health care better,” says LeFort.
Essentially, to streamline the process.
In addition to that AI can also mean robotic surgery.
“We often get a bit distracted with the bright and shiny and the art of the possible,” says LeFort.
“What is working and what is available from an AI perspective, can certainly make us more efficient and help us make better decisions so the patient experience is better. “
LeFort says, that does not involve taking the “human” out of the equation.
“That empathy and caring component is never going to be replaced by a machine or something that you automate,” explains LeFort.
But, she says, what it will do is help with the “best, most accurate, most up-to-date information.”
“It will make us better as clinicians and healthcare providers across the country to really have a major impact in terms of patient outcomes.”
And she is embracing what it means for the future.
“For me, it’s very exciting in terms of the differences this can make for Canada.”
