Infiltrating IT into primary care: a case study

Web based approaches to tracking students on placement are receiving much interest in the field of medical education. The work presented here describes a web-based solution to the problem of managing data collection from student encounters with patients whilst on placement. The solution has been developed by postgraduate students under the direction of staff of the health informatics diploma. Specifically, the system allows undergraduate students on placement or in the main hospital to access a web-based front end to a database designed to store the data that they are required to gather. The system also has the important effect of providing a rationale for the provision of electronic communication to the undergraduate students within the context of healthcare delivery. We believe that an additional effect will be to expose practicing healthcare providers to electronic information systems, along with the undergraduates who are trained to use them, and increase the skill base of the practitioners.