Date | May 2018 | Marks available | 6 | Reference code | 18M.1.SL.TZ0.1 |
Level | SL | Paper | 1 | Time zone | no time zone |
Command term | Explain | Question number | 1 | Adapted from | N/A |
Question
Medical centre budgets
Dr Schultz is the head doctor and manager at the Okavango Medical Centre in the Republic of Botswana. This medical centre is located eight hours away from the capital city, Gaborone. The medical centre is able to cope with routine cases, but when the doctors at the centre encounter an unusual case, they have to communicate with specialists at the main hospital in Gaborone using either a cellphone or voice over internet protocol (VOIP).
Currently, the Okavango Medical Centre does not have any medical equipment connected to the information technology (IT) systems at the hospital in Gaborone in real time. This makes it hard to give the necessary information to specialists in Gaborone when there are unexpected changes in a patient’s condition. Because of this, at times Dr Schultz has to ask a specialist doctor from Gaborone to visit the Okavango Medical Centre to carry out treatment.
The area is becoming popular with tourists, and Dr Schultz is concerned that the doctors and nurses at the Okavango Medical Centre will be unable to treat the increasing number of patients. He believes Okavango Medical Centre needs better equipment in order to improve patient care.
The IT staff at the Okavango Medical Centre created a database of the treatments carried out by the centre. Figure 1 shows an example of the form used to enter data.
Figure 1: Example of a form used to enter patient data
Identify two characteristics of voice over internet protocol (VOIP).
Identify two reasons why staff at the Okavango Medical Centre would use a form to enter patient data into the database.
Outline one reason why the Okavango Medical Centre would use a relational database for the patients’ records.
Dr Schultz has arranged to speak to the local authority in an attempt to get more funding for the medical centre. He intends to use presentation software to create a multimedia presentation to support this speech. Dr Schultz is aware that many people in the audience are annoyed when slideshows are poorly designed.
Explain three design errors Dr Schultz should avoid when creating his multimedia presentation slideshow for the local authority.
The Okavango Medical Centre has received additional funding from the local authority. The centre is investigating the possibility of using these funds to purchase IT equipment that would allow surgeons in Gaborone to carry out surgery remotely.
Evaluate the impact of the purchase of this IT equipment on the medical centre and its patients.
Markscheme
Answers may include:
- Communication using internet / internet applications / one example such as Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, WhatsApp, etc.
- Communication carried out using the internet.
- May take the form of voice or multimedia.
- Communication / conferencing with many people at the same time.
- Communication is synchronous / transmitted in real time.
Award [1] mark for identifying each characteristic of voice over internet protocol (VOIP) up to a maximum of [2] marks.
Answers may include:
- To provide an intuitive/user-friendly interface.
- Allows the user interface to be customized, such as by adding additional information to support the user.
Award [1] mark for identifying each reason why staff at the Okavango Medical Centre would use a form to enter patient data into the database up to a maximum of [2] marks.
Answers may include:
- Data would only need to be entered in one place…
- which would prevent problems such as data redundancy and update anomalies.
Award [1] mark for identifying a reason why the Okavango Medical Centre would use a relational database and [1] mark for an explanation why it is a problem up to a maximum of [2] marks.
Answers may include:
Small font size
- Dr Schultz should avoid using a small font that makes the text difficult to read…
- or results in too much text on a slide, reducing its effectiveness.
Excessive/inappropriate transitions
- Dr Schultz should ensure that the nature of the transition is appropriate for the audience.
- In this case, he should avoid excessive flying in, etc.
Too many slides
- Too many slides can mean that the slides do not remain visible long enough for the audience to engage with them…
- or the key points associated with each slide become blurred in the overall message.
Poor choice of colours
- Dr Schultz needs to ensure the mix of colours makes the slides easy to read…
- therefore, may want to avoid certain combinations, such as red or green, that may cause some of the audience difficulty in reading the information.
Inappropriate language
- Dr Schultz should ensure the language used is appropriate for the intended audience.
- This should ensure that overly complex terms or specialist medical terminology is not used.
Inappropriate or overuse of multimedia
- It may be appropriate to incorporate a video (e.g., interview with a patient)…
- but irrelevant music/videos can be annoying and detract from the message.
Inconsistent formatting throughout the presentation
- The presentation is not consistent.
- The clarity of the message is lost.
N.B.: The response requires an identification of a common design error followed by an explanation of why it is a problem. If no design error is mentioned but from the explanation it can be determined this should be credited.
Award [1] mark for identifying a common design error and [1] mark for an explanation why it is a problem up to a maximum of [2] marks.
Mark as [2] + [2] + [2].
Answers may include:
Advantages of purchasing more IT equipment so that operations can be carried out remotely:
- Specialized surgeries (e.g. cardiac) can be done remotely, improving medical care.
- Adding specialist surgeons to this type of clinic would be expensive and inefficient, as there would be a limited number of cases for them.
- The doctors in Okavango could assist in and/or observe the surgery, thus improving their general surgical skills/gaining medical training.
Disadvantages of purchasing more IT equipment so that operations can be carried out remotely:
- The internet connection (bandwidth) may not be sufficient to support remote-controlled surgery because the surgery requires high-tech video and phone links.
- Latency in the connection is also a safety issue. Lag times can cause serious errors.
- The remote surgery equipment may not be used frequently enough to justify the expense / it might be wiser to spend the money on other medical needs.
- Patients in the area might be uncomfortable with the idea of a remote-controlled robot carrying out surgery (trust).
- The data will need to be encrypted to protect patient privacy (security).
- Robotic surgery would use public networks, raising security concerns (including hacking).
In part (c) of this question it is expected there will be a balance between the terminology related to digital systems and the terminology related to social and ethical impacts.
Keywords: health, medical care, training, trust, privacy, network, bandwidth, change, systems, values
Refer to SL/HL paper 1, part c markbands when awarding marks. These can be found under the "Your tests" tab > supplemental materials > Digital society markbands and guidance document.