Having patient information on
paper can result in loss of information or delays in accessing lab results; a
delay that can be crucial in a patient's treatment. Failure to digitize medical
information can cost lives. According to the Pan American Health Office (PAHO),
electronic medical records speed up the scheduling of medical consultations,
increase the quality of care, avoid wasting medicines and unnecessary
diagnostic tests, and even reduce errors due to doctors' bad handwriting on
prescriptions.
Latin America is in the process of digitizing its medical records. In this region, there are still doctors who rely more on paper than on the computer or consider the software too complex or difficult to handle. Bolivian systems engineer Álvaro Rojas has found this to be true. Thus, was born shareMEData, a digital platform for medical records in the cloud that improves the accessibility, clarity, and security of healthcare information aimed at healthcare professionals and clinics. For this development, Rojas has become one of the 35 winners of MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35 Latin America 2022 in Spanish.
This electronic medical record remotely collects all patient information, such as medical history, vital signs, lab results and X-rays, on a single platform. It is accessible from anywhere in the world and easy to use. shareMEData also reduces paper, electricity and ink costs, time to care and the need for repeat tests while improving healthcare.
The patient also benefits directly by being able to transfer all his or her information if he or she changes doctors or moves cities. With this software, their entire digitized medical history is securely collected. Rojas says, "The goal is for the patient to have a medical history that will help him or her with future health problems."
Currently the system is already deployed throughout Bolivia, where more than 32,000 patients are benefiting. The young man seeks to make shareMEData the Latin American benchmark for health records and digital services. With artificial intelligence, Rojas aspires to use the data accumulated from patients to pre-diagnose and prevent diseases.
