The Protocols of Privileged Information Handling in an E-Health Context: Australia

Introduction

Reflecting global trends, Australia is increasingly adopting unified, national electronic health (e-health) frameworks to improve standards of patient care while containing service costs. The term “e-health” refers to the electronic management and exchange of patient health information using information and communication technology (ICT). The ICT includes databases, mobile phones, faxes, computerized devices and the Internet. Threats to health information stored on computer networks are complex and jeopardize the privacy of millions of patient-care records rather than, as reported prior to e-health, perhaps hundreds of paper records per incident (Zajac 2010). Evidence suggests privileged e-health information handling protocols are a broad and complex subject area, yet few studies analyze their impact in relation to complicated social and material, or socio-material, interactions in patient care settings (Orlikowski, 2007; Westbrook et al., 2007). This chapter attempts to rectify the shortcoming, adding to knowledge about the protocols of privileged-information handling and informing national e-health framework strategies (Table 1).