GMIT Mayo offers unique new course in eHealth

Monday, May 13, 2019 Press Office
Press Release

Experts at eHealth seminar outline benefits of Ireland's eHealth initiative

GMIT Mayo is pleased to announce a second run of the popular new Level 8 Certificate in eHealth, commencing September 2019. The five-month online/blended programme, consisting of two 5-credit modules: eHealth Strategy and Data, and eHealth Systems and Implementation, is designed to enable students to develop a critical understanding of the concepts, strategies, and data standards that will drive Ireland’s eHealth initiative.

eHealth is the use of connected systems in the delivery of healthcare, and the monitoring and recording of patient health-related information. eHealth systems are a cornerstone in the HSE’s ‘Stay Left, Shift Left’ strategy of moving future healthcare from acute settings to community-based environments, where the quality of life for the patient is improved and the cost of patient care is reduced.

The first eHealth course in GMIT Mayo ran from January to May this year (2019); fifteen students are currently completing their studies. As part of the course, GMIT Mayo’s Nursing & Health Science Dept hosted an eHealth Seminar (early April). Organised by lecturers Richard Holmes and Brian Mulhern. The half-day event was attended by healthcare and allied professionals, and administrative and management personnel within the healthcare community, along with students of the eHealth course.

Keynote speaker, Professor Martin Curley, Director of the HSE Digital Academy and Open Innovation, praised GMIT Mayo for getting the eHealth programme off the ground, saying it is the first of its kind in the country. He pointed to a future collaboration between GMIT and the HSE Digital Academy for the provision of ehealth programmes. “The GMIT Certificate in eHealth would integrate well with the current Masters’ and PhD provision of the Digital Academy” he says.

“eHealth is a key enabler, allowing patients to be participants in their own healthcare, and the HSE Digital Academy would ensure that health service providers had a resource to enable them to take advantage of digital technologies in facilitating this model of care. The Digital Academy would also act as a hub supporting digital healthcare innovation both inside and outside of the direct HSE environment.”

Speaker Dr Ann Shortt, Emergency Medicine Consultant at Mayo University Hospital (MUH,) and co-founder of Full Health Medical, a health tech company, spoke about her motivation to set up her eHealth company and helping tackle the root causes of preventable illnesses before reaching A&E.

Speaker Catherine Jinks, Senior Manager with responsibility for the national rollout of the Maternal & Newborn Clinical Management System (MN-CMS), outlined how the new system will ensure that every child now being born is starting off with an electronic record which will eventually contribute to a full patient Electronic Health Record (EHR) in the coming years.

Speaker David Toohey, CEO of Syncrophi Systems Ltd, demonstrated the company’s electronic Point-of-Care system. “This digital healthcare technology eases the data collection demands on nurses who do ward rounds, integrating with current vital signs monitors, calculating early warning scores, and providing the nurse with valuable decision support in the escalation of care”, he explained.

Speaker Sean Calvey, Information Technology Administration student at GMIT Mayo, demonstrated a sepsis smartphone app which he developed in conjunction with a team at Mayo University Hospital and the GMIT iHub. The app provides clinicians with simple access to the HSE national clinical decision support tools for sepsis management.

Justin Kerr, Head of Dept of Nursing, Health Sciences and Social Care at GMIT Mayo, acknowledged the contribution of digital technology in the provision of health and social care, and pledged support to the collaboration between GMIT and the HSE Digital academy.

The next run of the course will commence in September. Applications are now being accepted. For further details please see: https://www.gmit.ie/nursing-and-social-care/certificate-ehealth

ENDS

Issued by Regina Daly
GMIT Communications Officer
GMIT, Dublin Road, Galway
Tel. 091 742826 / 087-9618355 (m) regina.daly@gmit.ie
www.gmit.ie/news