Trends in Health Information Systems and Applications - Essay Example

Trends in Health Information Systems and Applications Trends in Health Information Systems and ApplicationsThe use of Health Information Technology to improve service delivery in the health sector has been on the increase in the past few years. The progress that this technology has made over the years on the administrative, financial and clinical operations in health care facilities cannot go unnoticed. The introduction of health information technology has led to the provision of new goods and services related to the health sector that were previously not available (Schwalbe & Furlong, 2013).

HIT is increasingly being viewed as one of the most promising ways of improving healthcare operations including patient safety, records management, efficiency of delivery systems and the overall quality of treatment. Consistent use of Health Information Technology results in increased healthcare efficiency, a reduction in costs, decrease in paperwork involved, and extension of real time communication and improvement of healthcare quality. More emerging technologies are embracing the wireless aspect and health information technology is no different.

Some of the emerging technologies for health facilities are wireless. This implies that communication is much easier, the systems are much easier to install and maintenance costs have been reduced since there will be no need of purchasing cables to connect different gadgets. There are various types of technology, both hardware and software applications that can be used by healthcare organizations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of patient treatment. Some of the most notable Health Information Technology includes Clinical Decision Support (CDS), Electronic Medical Records and computerized physician order entry (CPOE).

Other technologies that are used by healthcare facilities include applications such as robots to dispense medicine, Automated Dispensing Machines (ADM), bar coding medication dispensing (BarD), bar-coding at Medication Administration (BarA) and Electronic Medication Administration Records (EMAR) (Brailer & Thompson, 2004). Some of the widely used technologies in the medical field can be explained as shown below; The Electronic Health Records (EHR) EHR refers to the new means by which hospitals and other medical institutions are able to store their information on a virtual platform instead of keeping a stack of books and papers where the details are written down (Schwalbe & Furlong, 2013).

EHR has become one of the most popular additions to health institutions and it has brought about a large number of improvements with regard to the collecting and storing of information. Adding an EHR system to a healthcare clinic would allow for a wave of positive change to flow throughout the medical institution (Schwalbe & Furlong, 2013). This would be as a result of the improvements that the EHR system would be able to make to the daily activities that take place in such a setting. Having information available to an individual at the push of a button has made everything easier for all the medical professionals involved in the health field and the EHR system can be considered to a promising and solid investment (Schwalbe & Furlong, 2013).

The EHR system has various features that make it one of the best records management system. One of the most notable features of the system is the archive, which is responsible for storing patient related data. Once the data is entered in the system, it is stored in the archive, where useful information can be retrieved at any time in the future. The system also has features to trigger reminders and warnings at specified times relating to treatment of patients. This enables medical practitioners to stick to their schedule in attending to patients (Schwalbe & Furlong, 2013).

Another useful feature of the system is digital formatting, which allows users to share the data across a network and share opinions regarding a particular case of treatment. The track care feature of the system enables nurses to track each patient’s treatment to find out their progress as far as their prescriptions are going on. The EHR system has been successfully implemented at The Shenandoah Community Health Center (SCHC) in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The health facility started implementing its NextGen HER system in 2005 and has been experiencing unprecedented success in management of its 30, 000 patients with an average of about 129, 000 hospital visits per annum.

Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) The Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) is an emerging interactive system designed to help medical practitioners in making decisions after carrying out diagnoses from different patients. The system has the ability to influence choices made by nurses and other physicians in order to improve treatment procedures for patients. A CDSS system is meant to assist physicians at the point of care by enabling physicians to carry out analysis of patient data and make appropriate decisions as well as carrying out diagnoses.

One healthcare facility that has made great use of the CDS system is Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, US. The hospital has largely benefited from using the system in serving its huge patient list over the years. Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) This system allows physicians to electronically enter records of instructions on how to treat various patients that are under their care. The instructions or orders will then be communicated cross computer networks to other medical staff in other departments in the hospital such as the laboratory or pharmacy in order for the other medical staff to act on the instructions.

The system is very helpful in reducing cases of unnecessary delays in patient treatment, minimizes errors involved in transcription as well as allowing entry of order or instructions at the point of care. The system has been very instrumental in improving efficiency of the Gertrude’s Children hospital in the US by increasing the efficiency with which physicians communicate and respond to instructions. This has eradicated unnecessary delays in patient treatment and patients can now take a very short time while being attended to.

References Brailer, D., & Thompson, T. (2004). Health IT strategic framework. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services. Bradley, V. M., Steltenkamp, C. L., & Hite, K. B. (2006). Evaluation of reported medication errors before and after implementation of computerized practitioner order entry. Journal Healthc Inf Manag, 20(4): 46-53. Schwalbe, K & Furlong, D. (2013). Healthcare Project Management. Kathy Schwalbe LLC. Simon SR, Kaushal R, Cleary PD, (2007). "Correlates of electronic health record adoption in office practices: a statewide survey".

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