Health Informatics: Information Flows across Health

Health Informatics: Information Flows across Health
CASE STUDY
When Jade Soh found out she was pregnant, she went to her GP for a referral to a neighbourhood Polyclinic. She had to schedule the appointment with her GP during work hours, quite inconvenient because she did not want to let her boss know she was pregnant. On the day of the appointment, she first registered with the receptionist and then consulted with her GP. The primary care physician confirmed the pregnancy with a urine test, similar to the test Jade used at home to find out she was pregnant, and then wrote the referral letter.
Jade called for an appointment with the Polyclinic and was able to secure a spot on a Saturday morning. She presented herself with the referral letter to the Polyclinic’s receptionist who placed the letter in a file folder she retrieved from the archive behind her. Jade met with the midwife, answered a seven-page list of questions to assess any risk factors during pregnancy and underwent a physical examination. Jade would have preferred to answer the survey at home because she would have been able to consult with her own mother about her family’s reproductive history. The midwife ordered that a blood sample be drawn and, according to the new internal policy, suggested that she undergo a genetic test for cystic fibrosis.
The receptionist prepared the referral forms and sent Jade to the blood laboratory in the nearby hospital. Jade again registered in the main hospital and then waited for a phlebotomist to draw the blood. Because it was a Saturday, the phlebotomist was unable to draw the blood for the cystic fibrosis genetic test. Jade would have to come back during the week. In this case, even though pregnancy check-ups are routine events, all steps need to be planned and executed one at a time, resulting in an inefficient use of time of patients and health care providers and a chance for misunderstandings and sub-optimal care. Because it was too difficult to take time off work and after weighing the risks, for example, Jade decided to forgo the cystic fibrosis genetic test.