My View: A ‘conductor’ for medical internet research

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Picture: Saswata Ray and Samson Tse

Guest column by Saswata Ray and Samson Tse

Saswata Ray and HiNZ 2018 keynote speaker Samson Tse  propose the need for a ‘conductor’ in the field of medical internet research in the form of a digital collaborative platform.

We can liken most of life’s experience to music. In jazz you will occasionally see a conductor helping direct the performance of all the musicians.  However, you will never find him or her a hindrance to the musical experience that jazz gifts to our ears and soul. On the other hand, in an orchestra, the role and importance of a conductor is well observed.

We propose the need of a ‘conductor’ in the field of medical Internet research, primarily at national level, with a definite goal to better channel the progress of research worldwide -more so with the imminent introduction of a new era of 5G environment. The principal motivation behind this proposal is to have a more coherent, global intention in all aspects of research and, information and communication in the healthcare field using Internet and Intranet-related technologies.

The overarching objective of this would be to translate the findings into improved applied health practices in the real world. As a result, we know of the progress, the limitations, the advancement; and the unmet needs; and above all we’re better informed about what we already have so we can use it to save a life or to make a healthier society.

Most of us working in the frontier of e-Health will agree that the pace of the research progress is ultra-fast. With the advent of big data and artificial intelligence, healthcare research shouldering its complexity has maintained its agility. But we believe that we have only a vague idea what is actually happening at a national and global. Are the literature searches, the various marketing techniques, our real life and virtual networking spheres, conferences, workshops, seminars doing enough to keep us informed about the progress or are we creating an ‘information-glut’?

The solution we offer points us in the direction of creating a digital collaborative platform at the national level with an unrestricted access worldwide. For instance, the NIH website is a Web-based resource that provides patients, their family members, health care professionals, researchers, and the public with easy access to information on publicly and privately supported clinical trials on a wide range of diseases and conditions. Similarly, a digital collaborative platform could be a one stop solution for all e-health research queries regarding the progress of research in a nation. Being a diverse field, such a platform structured in a methodological way can be used to stay up to date with science.

The idea is to spread the umbrella of the research so more like-minded scholars, clinicians, service users and entrepreneurs can get involved by this sharing attitude of the research progress. The idea is to be inclusive, to empower and be increasingly wholesome with information sharing, so that relevant information is readily available to the researchers, patients and healthcare providers who navigate the healthcare journey of our nation states, countries and the world.

Driven with the right spirit, the beneficiaries of this platform are many – scientists, policy planners, patients, the healthcare industry, behavioural health providers and funders. To name a few, academic research outputs might get a fresh boost of life for potential commercialisation, and possibly enjoying the benefits of research advancement. This can be very effective for analysing gaps in a research.

Overall, the idea is to bring a ‘conductor’ in place to better harmonise the research progress worldwide, so that the different instruments of medical internet research play more in-sync.

To read more about the HiNZ Conference 2019 click here >>

Saswata Ray is a PhD student at Auckland University and Samson Tse is a professor of mental health in the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong. Ray is speaking at HiNZ 2019 about his study on 'How are young people’s decisions about food influenced by their use of social media?'

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