Information Literacy

Duran Kelly

1


In preparation for this assignment, an internet search was performed to find a new
emerging technology. The article chosen for this emerging technology is titled Patient access
and control: The future of chronic disease management? (Safavi, 2014) from the website
Techcrunch.com. In summation, this article discusses the concern of patients whom have
chronic diseases/illnesses and the management of their care if they were able to access their own
medical records electronically using an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) in some manner. The
article highlights some of the general concerns of those with chronic illnesses, such as chronic
kidney disease, and how someone would be able to see their health trends based on their EMR.
According to Safavi (2014), Whether they self-manage or not, chronic disease patients
clearly want access to their medical records, even if it means compromises over privacy. In a
recent Accenture survey of 2,011 U.S. consumers with chronic conditions, 69 percent of those
polled believe they should have the right to access their medical records. Over half (51 percent)
say that being able to access their data online outweighs the privacy risks involved. In an even
more emphatic statement, nearly 9 in 10 of those polled (87 percent) state the desire to gain
control over their records. The new emerging technology discussed within this article would be
a possible solution for these individuals who seek control over their health records and the
privacy settings placed upon them. Help is on the way for those who have at least some
knowledge of how to use a mobile device or computer to access the Internet, as developers are
creating apps to view and interact with their medical records. The government-supported Blue
Button should also help, enabling one-click access to an individuals medical data from health-
provider websites. (Safavi, 2014).
Information Literacy
Duran Kelly

2

Two additional internet searches were used on this same topic. The first search was
performed on the Yahoo search engine, this search found the websites arstechnica.com,
ehow.com, and healthit.gov as its first three web addresses and in that same order as well. Using
the Google search engine, my first three web addresses received were athenahealth.com/EMR,
healthit.gov, and ncbi.nlm.nih.gov in that respective order. Comparing the two, Yahoo gave me
some technological related information based on my website, however most of the ones found
may not have ben reputable. The Google search engine directed me to a number of governmental
sites or those from known health care/ technological web addresses. The Techcrunch.com
website was actually the fifth listing under Google with the same exact wording in my search.
One website titled Nebulabot.com form the Yahoo search engine has an article Future
Medical Technology, (Lepton, 2014). This article may have been written this year, as the
copyright year is 2014, although that information is not certain. It is somewhat relevant to my
topic, it discusses people have internet access to their own EMR, with the statement Future
computers will easily track, record, analyze, and put these in huge medical database for others to
use as neededfuture technology will reach a new level of home self-monitoring never
imagined before, (Lepton, 2014) however this article does not solely discuss this topic. This
topic is more likely a subsection of what the entire article is about. The authors name is Kevin
Lepton. There are no qualifications listed about the article to state that he is qualified on this
topic or not. Accuracy is definitely not definitive in this article. There are no citations or showing
of supportive evidence to support the authors position. The article seems to be written to inform
and/or persuade individuals of some future health care technologies to come.

Information Literacy
Duran Kelly

3

When searching for articles from a scholarly journal, I used the CCBC web addresses
library section. My keywords uses to find the scholarly journal articles was patient access to
medical records, and within this category, there were many articles found. The ones I chose
were those whose title and then their abstract matched the topic for which I am researching. The
EBSCO host database was used as it pertained to many of the medical-related journals and
research articles.
In contrast to the previously mentioned internet article found during this research, the
articles from the EBSCO Host database both matched the exact topic for which I am conducting
my research. Unfortunately, the internet article is easier to access for those who may not know
how to use databases/ library tools, etc. The articles found on the database show a gathering of
details from multiple authors and lists their references and also their training and background
information. For example, the Abraham et.al (2008) article lists the authors of the articles
names under the reference section with a small synopsis of their backgroundsuch as Abraham
being an assistant professor of management information systems in the Mason School of
Business, ( Abraham et.al, 2008). This is a stark contrast to the Lepton (2014) article that does
not disclose any information in reference to the author and his background. Another contrast
between the internet searches versus that of the journal article is the differences in timeliness.
The internet search for the Lepton (2014) article did not have a date for which the article was
written, nor a timeframe for when information was gathered prior to writing the author. The
Mold et.al, (2012) article used data from research over a period from 2008-2010 and published
the information in 2012. This type of information is not included in the Lepton (2014) article.
Based on my extensive research both using search engines and a database, it is clear that
a journal article from a database will typically be more relative to certain topics when the search
Information Literacy
Duran Kelly

4

is performed correctly (and if any research is available on that topic), will have more authority
and timeliness when compared to a search without much filter of research information.


Information Literacy
Duran Kelly

5

References
Abraham, C., Watson R., Boudreau, M. (2008). Ubiquitous access: On the front lines of patient
Care and safety. Communications of ACM. 51 (6). Retrieved from EBSCO Host database
Lepton, M. (2014). Future medical technology. Retrieved from www.nebulabot.com
Mold, F., Ellis, B., Lusigan, S., et.al. (2012).The provision and impact of online patient access
To their electronic health records (EHR) and transactional services on the quality and
Safety of health care: Systemic review protocol. Informatics in primary care.20,(271-82).
Retrieved from EBSCO Host database.
Safavi, T. (2014). Patient access and control: The future of chronic disease management?
Retrieved 18 September 2014 from www.techcrunch.com