N.S. Health introducing new technology expected to help clinicians serve patients faster

New technology being introduced in Nova Scotia’s health-care system is expected to make it easier for residents to search for health information.

Nova Scotia Health has entered a new partnership with Google Cloud to implement three digital solutions that will use artificial technology (AI) to “transform the patient and clinician experience.”

The Nova Scotia government says the partnership is also expected to make it faster for health-care professionals to find important health information they need to help inform decision-making and improve patient outcomes.

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According to Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, no other health-care system in Canada is using this technique.

“We must try new solutions to the challenges we face – that’s what our health-care plan calls for,” said Houston. “This partnership will empower Nova Scotians, reduce administrative work for doctors and make diagnosing illness easier.”

Teams with the health authority will work with experts from Google Cloud Consulting and product teams to integrate three AI-driven health-care solutions by the fall of 2025.

This includes:

• Providing Nova Scotians advanced search capabilities using natural language across health system resources, such as the YourHealthNS app and Nova Scotia Health websites.
• Allowing health-care professionals to use a natural-language search to locate relevant information in a patient’s health record. The province says this will reduce time spent searching through patient records and quickly provide clinicians with the information they need.
• Supporting radiologists with their review of chest X-rays by providing preliminary imaging findings, which will improve efficiency. Last year, more than 190,000 chest X-rays were performed in Nova Scotia.

“It will provide a comprehensive picture of the patient’s medical history, reducing time that health-care workers spend on the administrative task,” said Houston.

“Our partnership with Google Cloud empowers citizens and clinicians with the information they need, when they need it. This enables decision-making and enhances the overall health-care experience in our province and leads to better care for Nova Scotians,” said Scott McKenna, chief information officer with Nova Scotia Health. “These advanced, transformative technologies support more efficient, effective and secure health-care services for everyone in Nova Scotia.”

A news release from the provincial government says Canadian physicians spend about 18.5 million hours each year on unnecessary administrative work, which is the equivalent of 55.6 million patient visits.

Dr. Matthew Clarke says not only will the system be more efficient, but will also provide more in depth information.

“I think it’s also making sure every possible piece of information I think I need, I have immediately available to me,” said Clarke.

Nova Scotia Liberal MLA Kelly Regan says while the announcement is a positive one, it doesn’t address the biggest problem facing health care, which she says is the lack of physicians.

“At the end of the day, there is no substitute for having eyes on you by another human being who is a health-care professional and that is not improved under this government,” she said.

The government says it is spending $42 million over five years for the project.

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.