Health Information Technology Invasion and its Impacts in the United Kingdom - Case Study Example

Health Information Technology invasion and its impacts in United Kingdom Identify one or more relevant High Impact Change/s and discuss its application to a health care setting or for a particular service user group. Design a service and briefly discuss the rational for this, and a plan for implementing the change. How would you evaluate if it has been successful? Introduction The inception of massive technological advancements has brought ease for human beings in every part of life. All the essential segments of everyday life are now hugely dependent upon technology. Maintaining manual hand written patient’s records is a traditional practice for maintaining patient’s database which is a long, lengthy and expensive task. From decades this procedure was being followed in hospitals and Medicare centers which was a time consuming and hectic work. Healthcare Information database was thus the need and necessity of time according to the prevalent healthcare scenario in the country. To take care about patient’s health record and doctor patient fast interaction; National Health Services (NHS) took care the responsibility of introducing Health Information Technology (HIT) into hospitals and Medicare centers of United Kingdom. The key reasons of implementing this mega setup was to get rid of hardcopies of patient records, fasten the process, serve the patients well and ease the doctors as they would have previous health record of patients available all the time. United Kingdom government took immense steps for the implementation of this system by providing necessary funds. The purpose of this paper is to have a clear cut understanding of health information technology invasion, implementation, processes and position in United Kingdom Medicare setup. Discussion of the response from government in the adaptation of this idea and reaction attained from the relevant institutions etc. Healthcare in UK Providing best healthcare services is the intention of United Kingdom government and for this they take essential necessary steps. The progression of technology gave opportunity to humans to maintain healthcare records of patients online on an online portal. The involvement of United Kingdom government was massive in this regard thus National health Services was given the task to implant state of the art healthcare services. National health Services proceeded in taking significant steps about this matter and introduced Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) in the year 2002. The aim was primarily to maintain a centralize database of patients so that it would ease processes (Jha, Doolan & Scott, 2008‎, p. ‎851). Government took one step further and provided heavy funds so that this action would be taken as soon as possible and goals would be achieved in short span of time. The serious involvement by government and massive actions by NHS makes UK as one of the most successful early adapter of HIT with the highest success rate. The networking between doctors and patients has been perfect and settled. The healthcare records are very well monitored and maintained on an online database so paper work has been almost eradicated. The steps taken by both hospitals and government are praiseworthy (Holden & Karsh, 2010‎, p. ‎162). Services Designing and Implementation National Health Services (NHS) is the institution responsible for maintaining and provoking healthcare records of United Kingdom citizens so that they would have a better and safer life. NHS provides wide-ranging healthcare services in UK but their primary responsibility is to focus on healthcare of the citizens. The government invaded into implementing Healthcare Information technology through NHS. The core tasks of NHS were to ensure that hospitals of UK have computer technology fully functional and they have started maintaining patient health records on a database. This wasn’t an easy step as it required huge funds, time, technology and instructors; therefore government of United Kingdom allocated colossal funds so that this feature would be installed in every hospital of UK in its true spirits (Folland and Goodman, 2006‎, p. ‎56). (Scott & Brommels, 2007‎, p. ‎261) illustrated that NHS had to regulate the system of Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) by providing trainings and funds to the hospitals. This was a revolutionary step and it started to take place in 2002. The objective was to have records of each and every citizen of United Kingdom by 2010. This target wasn’t achieved however an overwhelming majority health record was maintained by then. United Kingdom has the privilege of having the most accurate and centralized healthcare database records till date. NHS ensured that necessary training and funds would be provided to those hospitals and Medicare centers who adopt this system soon. Incentives and reward plans for hospitals were also developed so that they would grab and implement this technology soon. Significance and Importance Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) has mammoth importance as this is the backbone of a patient health status. Time is the name of the game in this fast moving world and maintain manual handwritten healthcare records is a lengthy and time consuming processes. HIT not only provides timely services but also has patient health record which carries colossal value. A doctor, while determining a patient knows precisely that in the past what kind of diseases and illnesses he has suffered; therefore suggest appropriate medication. Contact information of doctors is also the need of time as patients book their timings and ask about their health issues via email service (Schade & Madeley, 2006‎, p. ‎472). Jones & Karsten (2008‎, p. ‎133) demonstrated that HIT has brought revolution in this data as if a person living in a particular city moves to another location and faces a certain illness and gets admitted there, so the doctor would have the complete medical history of the patient which would help him in the medication process. HIT has also centralized the system so that patient record would be on the go. Heavy loads of papers, files and space is no more the problem as HIT has minimized the use of paper work. Online processes don’t require papers; instead a fully functional computer is required to perform operational activities. Special place for saving files and storing them is not a problem anymore as online portal does not require such setups. Medicare and Hospitals Cultures The implementation of this technology brought mix set of responses from hospital and Medicare centers. They were not very interested in the adaptation of technology but the government regulations and orders forced them to adapt this technology. Different set of cultures is prevalent throughout United Kingdom so hospitals were basically the fast adapters of this technology as significant funding was enough to implement this system. Computers usage was the first basic step to be taken for which learned computer literates were asked to help the staff. The operational activities in hospitals were centralized so that there would be no communication barriers (Pagliari & Singleton, 2007‎, p. ‎330). Training the staff was the key step taken at that time so that processes would be accurate, beneficial and advantageous. The funds by the government acted as a backbone because such large funds by a hospital and Medicare center are difficult to generate and spend. Involvement of Department of Health in UK also ensured timely implementation of HIT. In clinics and hospitals patients started to book since 2004 which gives indication of the successful implementation of this master plan. The cultures of hospitals and Medicare centers have been revolutionized since then and now, HIT is the name of the game (Avison & Young, 2007‎, p. ‎72). Government Efforts The most serious party in this whole process is the Government of United Kingdom which takes responsibility to provide best healthcare service to the citizens of the country. Government soon after the release of this technology knew that this technology would be beneficial and advantageous for the people; thus passed the order for its implementation throughout the country. The government officials and dignitaries took necessary relevant actions in this regard and knew precisely that funding for this master plan is essential so all the registered hospitals were asked to implement this system for which government will provide appropriate funds (Unwin, 2009‎, p. ‎49). Usually institutions are not early adaptors of technology so government made sure that the training staff of this technology would also facilitate the hospital administration in each and every step so that they would not face any difficulty or problem in the future operational processing. At each and every step, government response was optimistic and quick. Government wanted to achieve healthcare information technology database targets within the planned time. National Health Services (NHS) and Department of Health were the main functional representative intuitions to conduct this whole technological move (Buntin & Blumenthal, 201, p. 467). Shortcomings of the Technology Every system has some loopholes which need to be filled; same case is prevalent with HIT as there are some areas which needed to be addressed for better results. Carrying out HIT database is a critical task and any sort of mishandling of data can lead to dreadful situations. Record mistakes are quite often found in the database of HIT. These kinds of errors are sometimes made unintentionally or intentionally but it can lead to a death of a person as doctors examine the previous medical record of the patient first. The core reasons of this drawback are of inexperienced staff and management, specially these cases occur when this system was implemented newly and people were not very well aware about it (Tomlin, 2012, p. 407). Currie (2012‎, p. ‎199) exemplifies that patients also sometimes provide wrong health information with a fear that they would get extra charged, however this is not the case. Data maintainers and management reconfirms patient record from the patient for his own safety. Fraud cases and fake billing is another recorded situation observed which is destroying this setup. These kinds of incidents depict that management needs more maturity and experience as single case of such kinds can actually play with people lives. Critical Evaluation & Conclusion The world is dependent upon technology these days as everyday processes are swift and speedy. Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) is the backbone of health record of patients living in United Kingdom as it has enormous advantages which are illustrated comprehensively above. However if a technology is given in the wrong hands then it can lead to horrifying and dreadful results. Throughout the years some cases have emerged that this technology has been wrongly utilized which has led to disastrous scenarios. Some analysts also believe that HIT has brought more destruction than construction. Research findings, facts and figures claim that this system is essential, favorable and need of time which is quite promising as it has also gave splendid results. The manual handwritten database management has more flaws then this technology. The time consumption factor is also there in handwritten notes, while chance of error prevails everywhere in the world. HIT technology implementation in true spirits is vital as it has targeted and facilitated all the segments and citizens of United Kingdom which makes this revolutionary change and transformation auspicious and promising. References Anderson, J. G. 2007. Social, ethical and legal barriers to e-health, International journal of medical informatics, 76 (5), pp. 480-483. Avison, D., & Young, T. 2007. “Time to rethink health care and ICT?” Communications of the ACM, 50(6), pp. 69-74. Buntin, M. B., Burke, M. F., Hoaglin, M. C., & Blumenthal, D. 2011. 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An evaluation framework for Health Information Systems: human, organization and technology-fit factors. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 77 (6), pp. 386-398. Read More