The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a digital transformation handbook for primary healthcare to help countries transition from paper-based records to digital information systems.
The move comes amid rapid technological advancement in the healthcare sector, with digital healthcare information systems and care delivery platforms enhancing access to healthcare and improving care delivery globally.
Outlining systems and software requirements for patient-centered point-of-service systems, the 98-page handbook released last Friday, was put together after years of collaboration with the Department of Digital Health and Innovation as well as the Human Reproduction Program.
It highlights how healthcare organizations worldwide can integrate digital solutions and other digital health tools to streamline information flow, improve patient tracking, and enhance decision-making.
WHO’s handbook also emphasizes the use of standards such as HL7 FHIR, which provides specific guidelines for data exchange, and the SMART approach in expediting applications critical for digital life-saving interventions to ensure interoperability.
With the rapid advancements in healthcare technology fuelled by artificial intelligence (AI), WHO also outlines how healthcare organizations can use digital platforms to provide personalized care and integrate patient engagement tools to bridge the connectivity gap between patients and healthcare providers.
In addition to digital systems, the handbook also provides essential steps for properly training healthcare professionals to use various digital tools, deploy them in their workflows, and scale them to meet the growing demand for healthcare.
Although the handbook mainly outlines how to digitize paper-based records, it provides a roadmap for countries to shift to electronic health records, accelerating digital transformation for easy access to care by patients and efficient care delivery by providers.
