outbreaks and dr. webby

although i am not the one personally completing the request, i just thought the idea of this is awesome
recent news: swine flu, epidemic/endemic scare, most cases in new york, queens even
my colleague is currently working on a documentation template, likely will be completed today to fire an alert based on certain test result criteria to suggest investigation of swine flu, once confirmed, it will prompt to fill out a templated documentation too to document the case (with both discrete and narrative data)
this can be data mined and analyzed with the right man power almost instantly
can you imagine if all hospitals had a similar system and were asked to fill out the same data template? further more if there was someone monitoring this data real time, how quickly we would be able to track and address outbreaks of diseases?
the ability to track this info, and the speed of accessing it is pretty awesome to me
not so big of a deal with maybe 20- 30 cases appearing
but what if it was a quick spreading disease
within hours, we found 50 casesdays, 100s or even thousands
100s of hospitals trying to combat it at the same timeif they were all on the same system, or in an integrated system1 person could run reports, to analyze by diagnosis what was ordered to treat the disease, and compare that with trended test resultsthey could identify which hospital, which doctor, and which group of patients were improving the best, and develop a suggested method of treatment to quickly treat the outbreak
i haven't really watched the matrix in full, but i feel like its like seeing the light moment
i mean just think- a doctor down in rural Indiana trying to figure out how to treat some disease
you can compare the test results, the patients age, list of diagnoses, problem list, to a large database of the same, and then send suggestions of what it might be and possible treatments
in cases where there is no time, this type of an IT system could be awesome
doctor could tap into hundreds/thousands of doctors experiences and outcomes

another thought i had on the bus coming back
soon wireless access will be common place on planes, buses, trains
a doctor could review your chart, and order medications for you (electronically sent to your pharmacy) from 20,000 feet in the air in the middle of the atlantic, or from a bus stuck at a travel plaza between here and philly
if we really wanted to get crazy, that doc could have a netbook with a webcam and you could have a virtual consult with him on a megabus and you sick as a dog in your bed
show him your watery eyes, red nose, and temperature, and he could just order you some z-pack and send it to Dwane Read pharmacy in LIC.
waiting rooms could become you on a webpage sitting in a queue with a count down timer before the doctor will 'see' you
how awesome would it be to log onto a webpage when you wake up with a lump in your throat and a stuffed up nose, keep sleeping until a chime rings saying the doctor is ready to see you. 15 mins later, you shuffle over to the pharmacy a block away and pick up your meds, some soup, and vitamin water.
sleep all day
100% tomorrow
i think thats just cool