How Blockchain Can Prevent Life-Threatening Medical Errors

“She came into the clinic with a fever last week, what do You mean her kidney is packing up?” The patient's daughter screamed at me. How do you explain this as a doctor? How do you explain that due to a mixup In patient information you gave mismatched blood components to a patient. You see how a simple mistake like that has caused severe blood transfusion reactions that have made your patient's kidney fail? I understand that a certain level of perfection is expected from professionals but you can't remove the fact that every professional is a human first before a professional and this applies to the health industry too. The doctor you see wasn't born a doctor but was born a human and over the course of years he/she has become a health professional. Over the years, health care has grown and adopted several tools to ensure that mistakes like these involving patient information are avoided in day to day healthcare practice. To achieve this, there are several tools used, but for the purpose of this write up we will focus on BLOCK CHAIN. What is Blockchain? Block chain can be viewed as a notebook that when stuff is recorded on it, it can neither be erased or manipulated. What role will it play in healthcare? Blockchain is relevant in healthcare and it has already been incorporated to a little extent into health care. The major role Blockchain aims to achieve in healthcare is better record sharing between hospitals no matter the distance involved. A Heart failure patient that takes his treatment in Chicago won't be scared of travelling to China because even if he has an episode of heart attack in Beijing the hospital there will have easy access to his medical records, drug history and every other detail needed without even placing a call to Chicago. Lastly, drug information recorded In block chain is secure and encrypted. Blockchain use in healthcare is still new and hasn't been explored by so many countries. With time, it will become more and more popular and useful across nations.

Apr 7, 2025 - 00:49

How Blockchain Can Prevent Life-Threatening Medical Errors

“She came into the clinic with a fever last week, what do
You mean her kidney is packing up?” The patient's daughter screamed at me.

How do you explain this as a doctor? How do you explain that due to a mixup In patient information you gave mismatched blood components to a patient. You see how a simple mistake like that has caused severe blood transfusion reactions that have made your patient's kidney fail?

I understand that a certain level of perfection is expected from professionals but you can't remove the fact that every professional is a human first before a professional and this applies to the health industry too. The doctor you see wasn't born a doctor but was born a human and over the course of years he/she has become a health professional.

Over the years, health care has grown and adopted several tools to ensure that mistakes like these involving patient information are avoided in day to day healthcare practice. To achieve this, there are several tools used, but for the purpose of this write up we will focus on BLOCK CHAIN.

What is Blockchain?

Block chain can be viewed as a notebook that when stuff is recorded on it, it can neither be erased or manipulated.

What role will it play in healthcare?

Blockchain is relevant in healthcare and it has already been incorporated to a little extent into health care.

The major role Blockchain aims to achieve in healthcare is better record sharing between hospitals no matter the distance involved. A Heart failure patient that takes his treatment in Chicago won't be scared of travelling to China because even if he has an episode of heart attack in Beijing the hospital there will have easy access to his medical records, drug history and every other detail needed without even placing a call to Chicago.

Lastly, drug information recorded In block chain is secure and encrypted.

Blockchain use in healthcare is still new and hasn't been explored by so many countries. With time, it will become more and more popular and useful across nations.