Hospital or Medical Information System - Research Proposal Example

Hospital/Medical Information System Hospital/Medical Information System Author Author Affiliation Date Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 3 BACKGROUND 4 PROBLEM SITUATION 5 PROPOSED SOLUTION 5 LITERATURE REVIEW 6 GOALS 9 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF PROJECT 10 SCOPE OF PROJECT 11 SYSTEM FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS 12 System Working Requirements 12 System Operational Requirements 13 System Security Requirements 14 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS 14 System Requirement 14 Network Components, Devices and Equipment 15 Database Systems Requirement 16 SYSTEM NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENT 16 TECHNOLOGY NEEDS FOR SYSTEM 17 ADVANTAGES OF NEW TECHNOLOGY 19 Saving Lives 19 Improving Doctors Efficiency 20 Electronic Health Record System minimize errors 20 Records Safety 20 Electronic Health Record Systems make health care cost-efficient 20 Electronic Health Record Systems offer coordination among health professionals 21 Electronic Health Record Systems translates into effective treatment intended for patients 21 Electronic Health Record Systems can save lives 21 Customized views 22 Decrease Loss of Data 22 Efficient diagnosis and treatments 22 POSSIBLE ISSUES 22 Electronic Health Record Systems threaten our privacy 23 EMRS can lead to less of human interaction 23 EMRS are not that efficient 23 High Cost 23 Lack of training 24 Privacy Issues 24 CONCLUSION 24 REFERENCES 25 26 INTRODUCTION In this new age of information technology, new technology based systems are used to deal with each and every aspect of life. New technology and trends have become more prevalent. In addition, the new tools and techniques of information technology has transformed and offered new ways and methods for better corporate and business management. The new technology offers more enhanced support and excellent capabilities for the management of corporate operations and processes. Seeing the increasing importance of information technology we have decided to implement a new technology based system for health care sector. In this scenario, we are going to implement a Hospital/Medical information system that is unique is nature. This new kind of Hospital/Medical information system will connect the civil ID of Saudi Arabian people to the system already placed in the governmental hospitals that will notify the hospital of the FIRST come-in patient if he/she has any major medical condition need to be aware of "in case of ER (emergency room) or something where the patient would not be able to talk or give out detailed information. Furthermore, the hospital management system will be helpful in effectively managing and running the administrative, financial and clinical operations of hospital. In more simple words, a hospital information system is a new kind of information systems which is used for managing the emergency cases for hospital related tasks. In addition, this new Hospital/Medical information system will be developed for the governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia. The main objective of the system is to allow citizens to use their civil ID in the emergency room and the system will tell the doctor if the patient has any allergies, heart conditions, major medical information that needs to arise. In this scenario, this proposal aimed to present a detailed analysis of some of the main areas and aspects of the new technology based Hospital/Medical information system and specification for the governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia. BACKGROUND Governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia are working through individual information systems those are not sharing or retiring any information from central authority. This overall arrangement of health sector at Saudi Arabia is based on the traditional system arrangement. The overall load on this structure is turning out to be more and more difficult to manage due to the increasing number of worldwide visitors. Saudi Arabia is heart of Islamic world that remain flooded with Muslim visitors throughout the year. Especially in season of HAJJ there is an amazing increment in load on Saudi Arabian Governmental hospitals. This overall situation is turning out to be critical. In this overall situation there is need for some load management and handling technique that can offer a better capability of superior management and carefully handling the overall processing and working of Governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia. In this scenario we have to establish a centralized arrangement for the quick insight about the patient critical conditions and possible remedies those can be offered to patient for effective relief. PROBLEM SITUATION In case of present working of the governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia people are facing a variety of issues and concerns. These issues are due to less effective management of healthcare data and information. Thus, due to traditional approach for the healthcare record management people are facing a variety of issues and delays. The old Governmental hospitals information management systems in Saudi Arabia are holding the patient information within the premises of hospital. There is no central healthcare record management system that can offer a capability to connect centralized Saudi Arabian Civil ID for retrieving detailed patient medical history. This can cause huge issues at the second patient visit due to unavailability of proper recording and holding of patient information and personal details. PROPOSED SOLUTION By seeing all the issues and concerns in present governmental hospitals working at Saudi Arabia we have decided to implement a computerized information and record management system that will be an information system to link the Saudi Arabian civil ID number (a very unique number i.e. every citizen in Saudi Arabia has a unique one that has information about the citizen like name, DoB and address and so on) with all the government hospitals current system. All national hospitals will have the capability to link to this civil ID to see if the present person is a new patient/or ER patient or a patient that has to be rushed in surgery to save his life. This new type of unique system will be using civil ID number to see if the patient has any allergies, heart conditions, blood type, etc.  This is a completely unique and new idea that is not currently implemented in Saudi Arabia or anywhere in the middle-east even it is not implemented in the United States. As we proposed that this new kind of hospital management system will be connected to the civil ID so from the first time a patient comes in an emergency room it will have the major medical history issues that must be notified. LITERATURE REVIEW When we talk about the centralized health care records, in this scenario we can not neglect the biggest project of human healthcare that is HGP (Human Genome Project). Human Genome Project (HGP) was initiated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The Human Genome Project is a global scientific research project which aimed at assessing and taking the sequence of chemical base pairs those build the DNA, and from recognizing and mapping the around 20,000–25,000 genes of the human genome through both a physical and functional point of view. This project is biggest example of recording a centralized repository of human health-care data. This information is presently used by lots of research institutions for testing and development of new kind of treatments and disease detection (Human Genome Program, 2011). Medical practices nowadays face critical problems as compared to before. Repayments are misnaming for medical practices as well as severe government policies are forcing health care experts to spend an adequate amount of time on reporting. At the same time, controlled care is encompassing another aspect of complexity to the health-care specialized with capitation to bound damages. As well, the danger of misconduct lawsuits is forcing physicians to keep minute particulars of their communications with patients. For the reason that of these issues and aspects, direct costs of offering quality care to patients is growing considerably; and therefore health care suppliers are more and more searching for competence in practicing medicine (Laudon & Laudon, 1999; Chalasani, 2003). In this scenario, a recognized method to augment competence in the medical practice is to make use of technology as well as automate as much operations as probable without compromising security and privacy. Ineffective medical information systems frequently result in manual operations; those consecutively need more staff, as well as diminish the productivity of medical practices. In addition, if procedures are not made much well-organized using automation, novel expansion prospects are frequently avoided, just for the reason that the medical staff is besieged immediately keeping up the every day manual procedures. In place of guiding their performances in the majority profitable ways, physicians as well as their staffs frequently discover themselves just reacting to the powerful company pressures as well as struggling to deal with an ever-increasing amount of paperwork (Laudon & Laudon, 1999; Chalasani, 2003): A medical information systems offers below given advantages: Simple and convenience for patients to their health records Simple as well as direct convenience of patient records among groups of physicians, all of whom are concerned in offering care to the patient. Incorporation of patient activities, billing, schedules, medication information and history and physical in one complete system Simple ease of access of related data and information to the authoritarian agencies similar to as Medicare and Medicaid In addition, healthcare information systems unite the areas of information technology and health to build up the systems necessary to manage the growth of information, high-level clinical work flow, and develop the security of the healthcare system. Additionally, it engages the incorporation of computer technology, information science and medicine to gather, systematize, and protect information and health related data. The strange explosion of medical data and information, technologies, and ground-breaking drugs can very much enhance healthcare deliverance to customers, as well as keeping the information associated to these advancements planned as well as accessible is key (Landers, 2011). In addition, medical informatics, which is also recognized as health informatics, is an interdisciplinary area of research that highlights the utilization of computer technology to help systematize, examine, administer as well as make use of information in modernizing health care related activities. Additionally, its main objective is to build-up standards and clinical strategy, sanctify medical terms, and improve the usability of health information systems to ease communication as well as deal with the flow of information from physicians to patients. In this scenario, the medical informatics appeared as computer technology implemented to medicine, however has developed to comprise applications from economics, biostatistics, business management as well as cognitive psychology. Additionally, the European nations started developing university departments as well as syllabus specializing in the subject. In 1960s, the French invented the idea of medical informatics to properly describe the area of health care informatics (Landers, 2011; Turban, Leidner, McLean, & Wetherbe, 2005). Moreover, it is expected that three aspects will very much control the additional improvement of information processing in health care in the near future: the evolution of the medical advances, population and innovative developments in informatics. These aspects have provoked the enhanced development of new technology based information system for health care organization (Sittig, 2003; Haux, Ammenwerth, Herzog, & Knaup, 2002). GOALS This section will outline the goal of project through different section of report: AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF PROJECT This section outlines aims and objectives of the development of Hospital/Medical information system. In this scenario this section will talk about possible aims and objectives of the new technology based system. The new health information system is aimed at improving the overall working capability of staff and patients at the governmental hospitals. This new technology based framework will offer a great deal of capability for the superior control and management of the records and data of patients and treatment and possible disease that patient has for the future use. This will offer a lot of facilities such as the less duplication of data that can improve the overall working power of the staff. This system will save the life of patient because when patient come in ER condition we put his civil ID into system that will show this old medical history like blood group, possible disease or any allergy. In this way doctor can better plan the treatment. This new system will help medical staff to improve their efficiency by gaining the knowledge of how to save the life of the patient. In addition, this id will allow the doctors to access medical history of patient in advance using this centralized system of medical records This system will offer a great capability for government to better assess the most spreading disease in order to better cure such diseases SCOPE OF PROJECT This new system will offer capability to improve the support and capability of the doctors to assess and get the repaid insight of patient medical history. This new system will connected to person civil ID number to retrieve his overall medical history. This will be network based system and doctors will be able to assess the patient record all through the nation. This new system will save lives by quickly providing a detailed medical history of patient like his blood group, possible diseases, allergies, etc. In this way most of quality time for patient will not be wasted in tests and reports. Doctors will be able to have a great deal of capability to better assess and predict the future treatment of patient disease. Hospital/Medical information system at the Saudi Arabian governmental hospitals will offer a great deal of capability for the development of an “intranet” based framework that will be very helpful for managing the patient medical history and also hospital related activities and records and information management. This will offer an enhanced communication capability to improve the overall efficiency of the government to keep track of healthcare data and records. The overall database of the Saudi Arabian governmental hospitals will serve as a base for analyzing the disease rate and need for enhanced healthcare services. This new technology based system will also serve as a main stream technology based infrastructure for the better management of government hospitals data and information. In addition, this system will enhance the speed of access to patient or staff records. The information systems technology will improve the doctor’s productivity by having a much deeper inside into the patient health conditions and his old health care records. SYSTEM FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS This section will outline the functional requirements of this system. These requirements will be of different types: System Working Requirements This section will outline the possible needs and requirement of Hospital/Medical information system from the working point of view: System needs connect to centralized system having Civil ID of people System needs to record the patient personal details System needs to record patient disease information System needs to record patient diagnosis and treatment details System needs to hold the available doctors details and availability System will hold the possible disease information System will hold the hospital basic details System will hold the hospital staff details System will keep track available hospital medicine details System will keep track the hospital resource data System Operational Requirements This section will outline the possible needs and requirement of Hospital/Medical information system from the system functional point of view: System user interface needs to be simple and easy to use System pages need to be identical System navigation should be fast and easy There must be help available for system operations System needs to be robust and simple System needs to offer better security There must offer proper user interaction System Security Requirements This section will outline the possible need and requirement of Hospital/Medical information system from the system security point of view: The new system needs to protect the all patients information System needs to offer better security for all staff details System needs to protect against the illegal access System needs to offer better log-in based security HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS System Requirement In order to develop Hospital/Medical information system for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia we will require some system and working arrangement for new system establishment. For this reason I have presented below some of the important hardware related requirements: Core-i3 System for Workstations\ 250 GB Hard Disk 1 GB Ram Network Card Printers Scanners Internet Connection Key Board Mouse Data transfer drive Network Components, Devices and Equipment In order to establish a virtual private network (VPN) for Hospital/Medical information system we will require following main components: (Tyson & Crawford, 2011; Shakkottai & Srikant, 2007) Leased lines such as ISDN (integrated services digital network, 128 Kbps) Corporate internal single wide-area network (WAN) for the business Cable Connectors Wireless devices for data transfer Business workstations Data servers Network servers Back server Router Micro Hub Transmission cable UTP Transmission cable STP Database Systems Requirement In order to develop a database system for the Hospital/Medical information system establishment for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia there will be need of following main components: Data Server Network Server Internet Server Backup Server Backup Archive Taps SYSTEM NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENT This section will outline the possible needs and requirements of Hospital/Medical information system from the system’s non-functional point of view: System needs to offer proper back facility System needs to offer better manageability System needs to offer suitable user customization System needs to offer enhanced record management System needs to offer security for users System needs to offer historical records archives TECHNOLOGY NEEDS FOR SYSTEM Hospital/Medical information system for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia will be a most excellent health care facility for the nation. This technology will be about accessing and sharing the essential information within the established hospitals for the better data and information transfer and management. In future, the management will be able to connect and share the data and information of healthcare sector with the MAN (metropolitan area network) that will be established inside the governmental authorization for the enhanced communication and data transfer. In future for establishing connection and interaction with the Hospital/Medical information system for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia there will be a basic need for some physical network based communication inside the national hospitals those will be interlinked with networks. In addition, there will be need for information sharing through strong security protocols and network security layers. This all will be ensured through the better management of governmental, healthcare, and management information in a safer way. The future Hospital/Medical information system for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia infrastructure will be based on a centralized repository of overall national data and information. In this cartelized repository we will have data about all patients, hospitals records, planning and strategic policies. This record will be managed and shared through the network. Here we will make use of predefined network security and access parameters. These access parameters will offer appropriate access to the governmental healthcare data repositories and to specific areas of the healthcare data. Moreover, the proposed infrastructure will be more appropriate for the management of the national healthcare data and information sharing. However here we have some difficulties regarding overall information system management. This system will be a complex and difficult to mange system for the enhanced data sharing and information transfer. Here we will establish the fixed platforms for the information access and update. I have researched for identifying potential developments in accessing, sharing, working and information handling structure of the Hospital/Medical information system for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia. For this purpose, I have tried to recommend a better technology for this new information system working arrangement. In this scenario, the wireless technology is the most appropriate option for the better management of corporate information. The wireless technology is considered as better and secure option nowadays. Thus, seeing the communication needs and requirements of governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia we can suggest this technology because this technology will minimize the workload and also reduce overall cost of the network establishment among different departments and locations of the governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia. This way of the information sharing and access provides less complex and more secure medium of communication and data sharing at extremely low cost (Malladi & Agrawal, 2002;Wang & Katz, 2001). Now I will talk about the handheld devices or PDAs (personal digital assistants) and their needs for better information access and control. This type of technology is more flexible as compared to the conventional systems for the information access and communication. This type of technology implementation at governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia we will offer better facility in case of on-spot information and data access. This also enables the effective patient’s record access and history examination for the better treatment. This implementation of technology can enhance the working power and management of the information and data at governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia (Malladi & Agrawal, 2002; Wang & Katz, 2001). ADVANTAGES OF NEW TECHNOLOGY This section will outline some of the main advantages of new technology based system implementation for the governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia. This section will assess the possible advantages that can be offered by this technology: Saving Lives This new medical system will be connected to centralize civil ID that holds the all possible information and records to patient’s information and disease information. In case of ER patients doctors will readily assess the patient conditions to better cure him. Improving Doctors Efficiency This new medial system will also enhance doctor’s efficiency by reducing the time of early tests for assessing the patient medical conditions. These details will be already enclosed in cartelized medical records system those will be retrieved in case of patient’s hospital visit and treated in time. Electronic Health Record System minimize errors Utilization of electronic health record system will decrease the chances of dirty data and errors in medical records for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia. These errors might take place in case of handwritten records because of human errors or faults (HealthWorld, 2011). Records Safety Electronic health record system (EHRS) for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia will offer better record safety through proper backup and security logins. There also exist a lot of encryption tools that facilitate in protecting data and information records and hiding them from illegal users (HealthWorld, 2011). Electronic Health Record Systems make health care cost-efficient Electronic health record system for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia will allow the integration of the entire data into a single place. In fact, with old paper-based approach saved records take higher cost in form of data duplication and file management that is reduced in case of information system based approach (HealthWorld, 2011). Electronic Health Record Systems offer coordination among health professionals EHRSs will facilitate governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia in offering coordination among health professionals that enhances the care and patients betterment. This all leads to better hospital management (HealthWorld, 2011). Electronic Health Record Systems translates into effective treatment intended for patients The information system for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia will offer competence with speed of analysis for the patient into improved health care service for patients (HealthWorld, 2011). Electronic Health Record Systems can save lives In a lot of cases, electronic health record system at governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia will be able to save peoples’ lives under odd circumstances. Proper availability of data and information about disease and patient can save patient life (HealthWorld, 2011). Customized views Electronic Health Record System for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia will offer customized views of information related to the requirements of various specialties that results in better management of patients and operational management (Mollar, 2011; Gurley, 2004). Decrease Loss of Data Hospital/Medical information system for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia will offer better data recording and management that leads to superior data safety and storage that minimizes risks of the data loss (Mollar, 2011; Gurley, 2004). Efficient diagnosis and treatments Hospital/Medical information system for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia will offer facility of faster as well as extra professional diagnosis and treatments of patients (Mollar, 2011; Gurley, 2004). POSSIBLE ISSUES In case of implementation of the new Hospital/Medical information system for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia there could be some critical issues and dangers regarding new technology application. This section of proposal will address some of the main and possible issues regarding new technology application: Electronic Health Record Systems threaten our privacy At the present, there exist a lot of viruses and information theft attacks. In such cases Electronic Health Record System at governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia will be at the real danger from these types of attacks (HealthWorld, 2011; Mollar, 2011; Gurley, 2004). EMRS can lead to less of human interaction The new Electronic Health Record System for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia can cause loss of human touch in health care arrangement. In this scenario, the interpersonal aspect in health care can be missing (HealthWorld, 2011; Mollar, 2011; Gurley, 2004). EMRS are not that efficient In spite of attempts in standardization and digitalization, new Electronic Health Record System governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia will not be enough intelligent and completely effective in offering automated management of all medical areas (Mollar, 2011; Gurley, 2004). High Cost The higher cost of EHRS for governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia will be much higher that can lead to some of the possible financial complexities to upgrade to the EMR like that buying software, etc (HealthWorld, 2011; Mollar, 2011; Gurley, 2004). Lack of training Most of the EMRS do not offer effective working and operational training to staff that can cause less enhanced performance (HealthWorld, 2011; Mollar, 2011; Gurley, 2004). Privacy Issues Sometime recording of patients’ data and possible privacy problem with that data can lead to some drastic problems. This can happen due to less effective handling and management of security and privacy of systems (HealthWorld, 2011; Mollar, 2011; Gurley, 2004). CONCLUSION In this new age of information technology, new technology based systems are used to deal with each and every aspect of life. New technology and trends become more prevalent. In addition, the new tools and techniques of information technology has transformed and offered new ways and methods for better corporate and business management. The new technology offers a more enhanced support and capability for the corporate operations and processes management. Seeing the increasing importance of information technology we have decided to implement a new technology based system for health care sector. In this scenario, a project for the implementation of health information system is initiated. For this purpose, we have been asked to prepare a project proposal. In this project proposal, we have presented an overview of Hospital/Medical information system development and application at the governmental hospitals at Saudi Arabia. This report has assessed and analyzed approximately all the areas of this new technology based system development and application. This report has highlighted some of the important areas of this modern technology development and application for the healthcare areas. REFERENCES Chalasani, S. (2003). Web-Based Medical Information Systems. Retrieved October 04, 2011, from IACIS: http://www.iacis.org/iis/2003_iis/PDFfiles/Chalasani.pdf Gurley, L. (2004). Advantages and Disadvantages of the Electronic Medical Record. Retrieved October 07, 2011, from American Academy of Medical Administrators: http://www.aameda.org/MemberServices/Exec/Articles/spg04/Gurley%20article.pdf Haux, R., Ammenwerth, E., Herzog, W., & Knaup, P. (2002). Health care in the information society. A prognosis for the year 2013. 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(2001). Mobility support in unified communication networks. Proceedings of the 4th ACM international workshop on Wireless mobile multimedia (pp. 95-102). Rome, Italy : ACM New York, NY, USA. Read More