Thursday 3 December 2015

A list of all of the health conditions/issues or fitness training areas that are covered in the app store

Calorie Counter
Adv.

  • raises awareness of calories in taken
  • may not define what type of calories are being in taken i.e. broken down into macros and micros


Disadv.

  • doesn't take into account variables that occur person to person therefore could question accuracy

Ab Trainer
Adv.
  • Encourages exercise
  • provide useful information and extend current knowledge

Disadv.
  • may not be appropriate exercise for the user
Daily Workout
Adv.

Saturday 21 November 2015

Data Management

Blog Update
Hi guys, hope you all are having a lovely weekend and enjoying the snow, winter has come early this year.
This week in the IT class we learned about Data Management in terms of how important it is not only to store data but how the storage devices have changed over the past years as we had a look at some of the hard disks/storage devices in class.



The lecture was very informative as we were told how to store our own personal data i.e. in our phones, laptops and I pads. We also found out that how much data we own overall which was a lot!
 The storing of data and its safety will be useful in the professional setup where keeping patients information will be our responsibility. We learnt about different types of software such as icloud for apple as a  protection tool and Firewall protection for the laptops which will enable us to keep our own data safe and secure as data may be anything such as pictures, assignments which we don’t want to be stolen.
With regards to backup strategies and limiting data we use on our personal devices, we did a group task in which we had to blog about our own data storage and what must we do to keep this protected, in case a situation arises i.e. when we are outside due too many wifi being open, we accept an unknown wifi and this may turn out to be a hacking strategy so we must not use such wifi and be more cautious. We carried out a class task too further listing files such as pdf and how safe they are in terms of security.

Sorry for a short blog, see you all on the Thursday meeting.


Friday 20 November 2015

Data, managed

So yesterday we had a very informative lecture about data storage, management and back ups.  It did highlight that the rate of development and advancements is speeding up.  I felt that this was especially obvious to myself being older than some of my fellow students as there were certain pieces of hardware that they had never seen!

Stephanie Morrison, IT class 19th Nov 2015.
Classmates, IT class 19th Nov 2015
I think in some ways ignorance is bliss with regards to personally owned data, but obviously not acceptable when working as health care professionals!!!

Unfortunately I think people only become aware of backing up their own work after being in a situation where work has been lost or corrupt.  For this reason I back up my own regularly for fear of losing it.

As we now live in the age of "clouds" I think people assume everything is automatically backed up for them.  As to how secure it is, well, your guess is as good as mine!!!  Data protection and confidentiality is obviously a massive issue in today's working environment, not only health care.  As the rate of change is bound to keep accelerating at a great rate of noughts who knows what things will be different when we get into the working world...or what we will be carrying in our bags or pockets by that point.

Thought for the day...

Did the "Back To The Future" films Predict anything correctly?!


Have a great weekend guys!

Thursday 19 November 2015

Activity 1: Data storage




GROUP ACTIVITY 1



DEVICES WE OWN


. Laptops
. Phones
. Ipods
. Ipads/Tablets
. External Hard drive
. USB Stick
. Memory card

HOW MUCH DATA DO WE OWN?


4 GB laptop
16-32 GB phone
Ipads/tablets 16-32 GB
Ipod 8 GB
External hard drive 64 GB,1 TB
USB stick 500 MB, 2GB
Memory card 2 GB

PROTECTION AND BACKUP STRATEGY



Apple users have iCloud as a backup option. Data can also be backed up on external drive such as USB, Memory Stick and  Hard drives and internal drives such as Google Drive and Dropbox.

 DATA SAFETY


Individual passwords on user accounts and do not use open wifi when accessing personal data.
Put passwords on the Broadband.
Use firewall and antivirus software to protect data.
Don't use free or open networks.

Monday 16 November 2015

Timeline

Hi guys,

Hope you're all good.  I am trying to work through the timeline task so that we have some info to work with at tomorrows meeting - must admit I have hit a bit of a wall with a couple remaining still to look at.  I wanted to share what I had done as hopefully it is of some use for our meeting tomorrow!  Any: criticisms; corrections; further info; tips and help are gratefully received!

See you all tomorrow :)

1984 Data Protection Act
“An act to regulate the use of automatically processed information relating to individuals and the provision of services in respect of such information” (www.legislation.gov.uk, unknown). 
This act was revised in 1998 that resulted in the NHS having to provide their patients with information held about them.

1985 Local Government (Access to Information) Act

“An act to provide greater public access to local authority meetings, reports and documents subject to specified confidentiality provisions; to give local authorities duties to publish certain information and for related purposes” (www.legislation.gov.uk, unknown).

Within the NHS this should be known so that appropriate notes can be taken and then written so that the information is accessible when or requested.  Before this law access didn’t have to be given to the public.


1987 Access to Personal Files Act

“An Act to provide access for individuals to information relating to themselves maintained by certain authorities and to allow individuals to obtain copies of, and require amendment of, such information” (www.legislation.gov.uk, unknown).

This has resulted an NHS patients being able to request files that contain information about themselves and if necessary having someone explain the meaning to them.  Previously this content would not have been made available.  If information was contained regarding another party this would have to be removed or blanked out.

1988 Access to Medical Records Act
“An Act to establish a right of access by individuals to reports relating to themselves provided by medical practitioners for employment or insurance purposes and to make provision for related matters” (www.legislation.gov.uk, unknown).
If your patient was looking to take out insurance, or a new employment appointment, then a third party company may request a copy of records.  Consent from the patient should be given in order to disclose the information.  Previously this content would not have been made available.

1988 Environment and Safety Information Act
“An Act to establish public registers of certain notices served concerning health, safety and environmental protection; and for related purposes” (www.legislation.gov.uk, unknown).

This act resulted in all NHS workers taking responsibility to prevent injury and accidents.  An on-site and of-site emergency plan should be in place and this information should be given to visitors, without them having to request it.  These plans should undergo reviews and testing.  We should be conscientious of these actions and relaying information when meeting with patients.

1988 Land Registration Act
“An Act to amend section 112 of the Land Registration Act 1925, and for connected purposes” (www.legislation.gov.uk, unknown).

The original 1925 act is described as:
“An Act to consolidate the Land Transfer Acts and the statute law relating to registered land” (www.legislation.gov.uk, unknown).

As NHS staff we would have to be aware of these types of requests and direct them to the relevant person.

1989 Official Secrets Act
“An Act to replace section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 by provisions protecting more limited classes of official information.” (www.legislation.gov.uk, unknown).

This law essentially means that anyone who comes across information that could be seen to be useful by enemies of the state must not pass this information on.  As an NHS worker you could directly treat a VIP as a patient and therefore have knowledge of weakness of an important figure that could not be disclosed.  You may also acquire information that relates to specific vaccination stocks or a lack in treatment or research for a specific area.  This information could not be passed onto any third party for threat of chemical weapons.  Although staff would always be covered by patient confidentiality they may want to talk about a specifically “special” patient and would not realise perhaps where this information could go.

1990 Access to Health Records Act
“An Act to establish a right of access to health records by the individuals to whom they relate and other persons; to provide for the correction of inaccurate health records and for the avoidance of certain contractual obligations; and for the connected purposes.” (Smale, 2015).

This act has become a bit out dated with the revision of the Data Protection Act, but it did allow people access to their medical records.  Before this law NHS could have disregarded a request for medical records.

1990 Environment Protection Act
The general message of this law was:
“An Act to make provision for the improved control of pollution arising from certain industrial and other processes…to amend the Radioactive Substances Act 1960… to amend the provisions of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 as regards the dumping of waste at sea” (www.legislation.gov.uk, unknown).

Before this law passed an NHS worker may not have been so aware that waste would have to be disposed of in a certain conscientious manner.  This law would not only protect the environment but also protect the general public from potential hazardous waste that could make them very unwell.  This is probably demonstrated by the appearance of yellow sharps bins.

1992 Environmental Information Regulations Act
This act allows any person to request information regarding any environmental matter.  The request must be replied to as soon as possible and no longer than two months should elapse before a reply is provided.  Refusals can be given, but must be justified.  Reasonable charges can be put against the request.

“An access to environmental information regime has been in place since1992, in the form of the Environmental Information Regulations 1992,as amended by the Environmental Information (Amendment) Regulations 1998, and also the Environmental Information Regulations(Northern Ireland) 1993 and 1998. The introduction of replacement Regulations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (and of similar regulations in Scotland) enables compliance with the UK’s commitments under the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making, and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the “Aarhus” Convention), and with EU Directive 2003/4/EC.” (ICO, unknown).
Increased access to environmental information provides the public with information to discuss, have an educated contribution to public environmental issues and decision making.  This supports the governments’ openness in the public sector (ICO, unknown). 

1994 Open Government Code of Practice
This law details that Ministers and Public Servants must justify policies, decisions made and actions taken to the public.  It is to encourage a more open system so that information can be accessed by the public and analysed (Gov UK, unknown).

This law would be aimed at making things more transparent for the public and also has the consequence that if the public can access information then the people responsible must be able to justify their actions.  Within the NHS this would make people more accountable for actions taken and allows people to query why certain actions were taken.  In the past points for debate or query may have gone unnoticed.  It would encourage staff to have to be more conscientious and take ownership of things they have done.

1995 Code of Practice on Openness in the NHS
This law was introduced setting out basic principles underlying public access to NHS information.  This information includes: services provided; the cost of these services, and performance against targets.  Information is also given on any proposed changes and opportunity given to influence decisions regarding these changes (Bynoe, 1996).

This law would result in NHS staff having to reply to requests in a timely and positive manner.  They would have to let the public know what information they are able to access so the public can make an informed decision as to whether they would like to view any information.  The staff would therefore need to know where to direct these queries and requests.  Also there would have to be a clear and effective complaints procedure that is clearly advertised.  Resulting in someone having to be tasked with monitoring this and dealing with effectively (Bynoe, 1996).


1998 Public Interest Disclosure Act
2000 Local Government Act
2000 Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to information) (England) Regulations

Bibliography

Bynoe, I. (1996). Beyond the Citizen's Charter: New Directions for Social Rights. London: Institute for Public Policy Research.
Gov UK. (unknown, unknown unknown). Retrieved 11 16, 2015, from www.gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/271975/2290.pdf
ICO. (unknown, unknown unknown). Retrieved 11 16, 2015, from ICO: https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1644/environmental_information_regulations_code_of_practice.pdf
Smale, T. (2015, 11 12). IT for Health Professionals. Course Material . Keele, Staffordshire, England: Unknown.
www.legislation.gov.uk. (unknown, unknown unknown). Retrieved 11 15, 2015, from www.legislation.gov.uk: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/35/contents







Sunday 15 November 2015

Latest Update...

Hi Everyone,

Hope you have had an enjoyable weekend, even if the weather hasn't been so enjoyable!

So I was unaware that we had a timeline to complete - I don't know how I missed that but I did.  So, have started trying to work away at that.  It seems like quite a bit of work involved but hopefully it can be utilised for our ever impending assignment.

"Scottish Noise"
This weeks lesson started with some clarification on said assignment which I thought was relevant and hopefully has given us all a good insight and confirmation into what is required.  We then went on to learn about Screencasts.  This is something I have never covered before and honestly thought it was out with my IT skills!  It seemed a fairly simple task to complete - I definitely think for future reference we need a clear cut plan and idea before approaching recording and I figure that is my turn done with being the "chosen voice" ;).  One thing that stood out for me was how we were given a relatively simple topic to cover but the time passed so quickly...before we knew it the half hour was gone and we needed to upload.  I think this is a point to be aware of for future.

See you guys around :)

Saturday 14 November 2015

Blog Update

Blog Update

Good Day everyone. Sorry for not posting anything on the Blog for a while.

The past two or three IT classes have been really productive, as what we are learning is making sense and it is acting as an aid towards our group project.
We have been learning about different types of Fonts, headings and styles to produce work which is in a clear design and easy to understand. We were also collaborating documents to edit and complete a group task in the class which we can use further for our project.




 I also learnt about several Laws and Regulations such as 
Ø   Access to Health Records 1990
Ø  Data Protection Act 1998
Ø  Freedom of Information Act 2000
Ø   Computer misuse Act 1990
We read some Hearings where things had gone wrong in the Health Sector and intentionally or unintentionally these rules have been broken which was scary to read yet an eye opener.



In the recent IT class we made Screen Casts. I would have never known how to make one and I not only learnt a new IT skill but also enjoyed making it. We learnt about the effectiveness of Screen Casting in terms of why and how it should be produced such as the sound quality and no background noise and what amazing benefits it had as a teaching tool i.e. it can be created and posted on YouTube where others can learn from the guide and we as a group also made a Screen Cast on how to use Google Doc and collaborate which can be useful as a learning package.
Overall I am enjoying IT and the best part is the Screen Cast production which I can’t wait to use for the group project.
Take care everyone and see you all at the group meeting.

 Adios!