Turkish scientists shaped the US healthcare system with the patents they received. İzmir University of Economics, Faculty of Engineering and Computer Sciences Assistant Dean, Department of Software Engineering Faculty Member Assoc. Mehmet Süleyman Ünlütürk reduced the workload of nurses working in this country with 3 different software programs he developed on behalf of General Electric in the United States of America, and enabled them to have a fair working system. Assoc. Dr. Ünlütürk also signed the system that allows the information of emergency patients not to be seen by everyone, but only by the nurses.
Associate Professor. Ünlütürk stated that the quality and safety of the service received by patients in the USA is of great importance and that human-oriented studies are carried out, and said: “General Electric asked me to develop software, especially taking into account the problems experienced by nurses in their working systems. In the work we started as a team, we primarily focused on ensuring that nurses work fairly among themselves. The program was designed to have 3 patients for each nurse, but in some rooms only one patient could stay, while in another room 3 seriously ill patients could stay. This resulted in unfair work. With the system we have developed, there are 3 patients for each nurse and these patients are allocated to the nurses according to their status.”
'SAFETY OF PATIENT INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT'
Emphasizing that he cares about the confidentiality of patient information, Assoc. Dr. Ünlütürk stated that sharing patients' information is prohibited under the American Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). Stating that before the patent, the information of the patients who came to the ED was presented on a system called a whiteboard, in a way that could be seen by everyone, Assoc. Ünlütürk said, “Therefore, there were great security problems. With the software we have developed, the information is now only visible to the nurses and responsible persons in that department. This prevents the information from leaking out,” he said. Informing that patent development is labor-intensive and results from a close examination of that profession, Assoc. Ünlütürk said that they created software so that patients' information can be accessed and used instantly from other units in the hospital, and that nurses and health workers have access to information about the patient. Associate Professor. Ünlütürk reported that the patents he invented are widely used in US hospitals today and that the problems related to a professional group are minimized.
'TURKEY IS NOT READY YET'
Assoc. Dr. Ünlütürk noted that it is difficult to develop such software to address the problems of nurses in Turkey, and that the 'companion' approach comes to the fore in the Turkish healthcare system. Stating that the nurses could not find the environment to reflect the education they received, Assoc. Ünlütürk said: “Turkey should definitely benefit from the qualified work force of nurses in the health sector. Therefore, at the moment, there is not much opportunity for us to develop a software that both has big problems and reduces the workload. In addition, only the USA grants patents to software in the world. When we come to Europe and Turkey, we cannot obtain patents for our software.”
Some of the hospitals where the software is used in the USA are: Texas Children Hospital, Columbia Medical Hospital, Chicago Decato Memorial Hospital.
Source : haberfx
Günceleme: 18/11/2013 02:14
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