Criteria A&B

Criteria A:
This portfolio addresses the issue of patients receiving health advice online as opposed to going to the doctor's office and having a check-up. Technology is improving and expanding rapidly and the public are trying to find ways to make their lives easier. Having health advice online allows this as people do not even have to leave their own homes in order to "see" a doctor. This does have its benefits, however has some major issues as well. The main issue is that concerning how accurate a doctor can be with the patient just describing their symptoms, when if a doctor is able to see the patient he can examine them as well as just listening to their complaints. Accidents are bound to happen and an online visit cannot compare to actually seeing a doctor. ("Health Insurers Pay for Online Doctor Visits", 2008)
There have already been issues concerning the prescriptions doctors have been prescribing so far. Many privet Doctors are able to provide an online service without having the correct licenses which they would have to have if they were opening an office. ("Sick? Click", 2007)

Criteria B:
There are several different components which are necessary for doctors to be able to consult patients online. The main IT system is of course the internet. The internet connection would have to have a fast modem in order to support the websites doctors would be working from. A high bandwidth would be needed for sending images and using webcams. Components such as camera and webcams would need to have high resolution for accuracy. A faster modem and processer would allow the patients and doctors to send images to each other. An operating system which was able to recognize webcams would also be needed.
There have been many developments in technology which have allowed people to consult doctors online. Such developments include higher bandwidths, faster modems and processors, and cameras with higher resolution. These developments have been made rapidly and it could be predicted that they will continue such trends. This would improve the quality of health care advice and prescriptions that doctors are giving as they would be able to view the patients problems more accurately. Higher resolution on cameras and webcams would mean the doctor would get a clearer picture of the patient. Also having a higher bandwidth would mean that images would be able to be sent quicker and webcams would be equipped with anti-stabilization.