Health IT to improve the quality and safety of medication management - Essay Example

? Contents 3 Chapter 3 Introduction 3 Background of the study 4 ment of theProblem 6 1.1Objectives of the Study 6 1.2Research Question 7 1.3The Significance of the Study 7 1.6.1. To Health Care Providers 7 1.4Scope of the Study 8 2.0 Literature Review 8 2.1 Personal Health Records (PHR) 9 2.2 Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and Electronic Health Records (EHRs) 10 2.3 Electronic Prescribing (Prescribing or eRx) 10 2.4 Patients’ Portals 10 3.0 Research Methodology 11 3.1 Target Population 11 3.2 Sample Design 11 3.3 Data Collection Instrument 11 4.0 Recommendation and Conclusion 12 5.0 References 13 Health IT to Improve the Quality and Safety of Medication Management Abstract Issues pertaining health require greater attention. This research proposal reveals a study that was carried out to see how IT can be incorporated into the safety and medication management. It is clear that a lot needs to be done in this field as it is one of the spheres that make people live comfortably in their environment. Chapter 1 Introduction The purpose of this study is to explore the type of health IT that has been integrated in health centers to improve the quality of health care offered to the patients. It is also aimed at investigating the impacts of IT on medication prescription. The study will cover two case studies, one in the USA and the other in Australia. Admittedly, good health is vital requirement for every living being. From the medical point of view, human health is considered as a key area that deserves a lot of care and attention. Seriousness should be a driving force for all doctors and other medical practitioners. Bad health poses deathly risks to people; many fatal cases have come to be due to access to poor health facilities. Studies have shown that over the last fewer decades before the incorporation of computing and other modern technologies, many errors have been occurring in the field of medicine. A compelling example is the data got from the US and Australia. Information technology is among other things that have led to tremendous transition in medicine. Information technology has transformed the world greatly leading to better life assurance to patients. All health related issue need the integration of IT in order to mitigate some errors that are currently evident in the field of medicine. The integration of IT in health related issue should be handled with great care or seriousness that is deserved. If integrated as expected, IT can effectively help to save the lives of many. This study will demonstrate important things that need to be done to see to it that improvement has been achieved in safety and quality of treatment using IT. This chapter consists of five sections that are the background of the study, research questions, significant of the study, limitation of the study and its scope. Background of the study The usage of health IT has emerged with the increasing advancement in technology. Health IT refers to the use or practice of information and communication technology in health centers to provide health care to patients and the population. Health IT encompasses many activities such as results reporting, health documentation, order communication and care planning, among others. There are quite a number of platforms that can be used in health IT applications. Some of these platforms include cellular phones, touch screen kiosks, personal digital assistants (PDDAs) and desktop computer applications. There are different types of Health IT applications but the widely used include personal health records (PHR), Electronic heath records (EHR) Electronic medical records (EMR), computer provider order entry, telemedicine, alerts and reminders in clinics, computerized systems of clinical decision support, electronic exchange of health information and consumer health informatics applications. The used of health IT has been designed to the delivery of health care services to patients and the population. The health IT has been applied only in the largest health care providers. Diffusion of Health IT to small health care centers has been a global issue in the last fewer decades and that patient lives were at risks. This has led to the movement of patients from one health care provider to another. The availability of health IT is of much important even in ambulatory setting though its usefulness is limited to factors such as, among others, insufficient training of users, security of the data on the system, lack of awareness of its functionality, cost considerations, inadequate considerations of work flow issues (Summerhayes, 2010). The adoption of health IT has been evident by things such as the numbers of clinicians among others. The extent up to which Health IT is applied by individual physicians has shown some variations. Many individual physicians have used health IT in their Electronic medical records in both small and large health care providers. The adoption of Health IT in health depends on individuals’ recognition and perspectives and the culture of an organization of deployment process. Medical practitioners such as nurses and other staff members have provided important support in Health IT implementation. Identification of barriers in the implementation of Health IT can be done by professionals such as engineering expertise. Patients and caregivers are facing the challenges of damaging their health due to lack of knowledge in health IT. The applications of Health IT in consumer health informatics provide health information to all patients and their caregivers through the use of computers and other telecommunication systems. Application of consumer health informatics enables patients and their caregivers to manage their lives through medication, follow treatments and monitoring regimens (Dyro, 2004). Statement of the Problem Technology advancement over the last fewer decades has led to the introduction of health IT. The knowledge growth of the medical management has led to the application of computers in the field of medicine. This was geared toward finding solutions to prevent medical errors. Health IT refers to the use of information and communication technologies in health care providers in both small and large organizations. Health information technology is a complex disciplined including wide range of products and services such as hardware, software and infrastructures that are designed for collecting, storing and transferring data for the health care. Patients and their caregivers are able to access medical information through consumer health informatics. Medical practitioners such as nurses and other staff representatives use health IT to provide health services to patients, e.g. individual medical records. The usage of health IT can be adopted in health care to get rid of erroneous treatment outcomes. A compelling example is how medical officers have integrated computer in health care. This has been demonstrated through computerized medical records and medical order entry records. These are therefore considered as the strategies that health care providers ought to implement in order to ensure provision of quality health to all patients and their caregivers (Wagacha & Muthomi, 20. 1.1 Objectives of the Study The purpose of this study is to investigate the impacts of Health IT with the Health care providers. The other objective of this study is to incorporate information technology in Health care. The study will also demonstrate how health care providers would incorporate Health IT to improve safety and medical management. 1.2 Research Question What is the effect of Health IT on people health? Why is the diffusion of Health IT in small health care centers limited by lack of funds? How is health IT designed for the better delivery of health care services to patients and the population? Are patients’ lives at risks at health care centers without such IT?? Why is Health IT a complex discipline in medicine? Why are small care providers or centers not using computer technology in their operations? Is the provision of poor medical services harmful to people health? 1.3 The Significance of the Study The findings and the recommendation of the study will be of much help if implemented to the health care organizations, medical practitioners such as doctors, nurses and other physicians, patients and their caregivers (Taylor, 2005). 1.6.1. To Health Care Providers The study will help the health care providers to formulate strategies that will lead to effective implementation of computer technology of health IT. This will lead to the improvement of safety and medical management through the use of health IT. The integration of Health IT will enable health care providers to achieve their objectives and rescue people lives from danger of poor health facilities and medication. Patients and their caregivers will be motivated through acquiring quality treatment and attendants. If the recommendation of the study is implemented, health care providers, either large or small, will have policies which will enable them to provide medical services efficiently and effectively to meet the needs of the patients and the population at large (Dyro, 2004). 1.4 Scope of the Study The study will be confined to the premises of health care providers in both private and public sectors. The focus of the study will be analyzing the implementation of health IT by health care providers. The study targets the health care providers, patients and their caregivers. The date for the actual research is not yet set out but the lecturer will decide the convenient time and period in which the study will be conducted. The study will explore the problem statement, objectives and research questions as outlined. The study has also specified the benefits and constraints of the study as well as the conception framework. However, the study will take into consideration the works of other prominent authors and offer critical review of the literature. The study will target patients, the general population and medical practitioners in health care centers too (Wagacha & Muthomi, 2008). 2.0 Literature Review Studies have shown that the introduction of health IT has come alongside with technology advancement. It was found that human health is a sensitive area that requires seriousness. The implementation of health IT has been a global issue because many doctors and nurses lacked technology knowledge; they were unable to embrace health IT which has become increasingly used by health care providers. Studies have shown that the implementation of health IT is critical because it helped physicians and other medical practitioners to manage patient data more effectively. Health IT provided computerized system through which health care providers can manage patients’ data. After the incorporation of Health IT, health care centers started processing patients’ data such as records, medical prescriptions and patients’ insurance information in a more efficient way. Other types of information relating to health issues were gathered and stored using health IT or computerized systems. As the literature review revealed, there are different types of health IT applications that are used in many health care centers. These applications played key role in managing medical process in both small and large health care centers. Such health IT application aimed at improving safety and medical management process. Below are some of the applications that have been put into practice since the introduction of health IT in health care centers (Dyro, 2004). 2.1 Personal Health Records (PHR) Personal health records are common to the EHRs but they differ in that they are managed by the individual patients in the hospitals or health care centers. Personal health records are used to show patients history, patients’ meals and the list of medicine prescribed by the health care provider. They are crucial in that they show the trend of medication and treatment and the changes needed to be implemented for quick recovery. Health care providers rely on the information contained in the personal health records. This information can be used to determine whether patients is due to discharge or stay for further medication. Patients keep their health records in electronic devices from which they can share their information with either the doctor or their caregivers. Although personal health records are important to both the patients and the health care providers, the limitation is that there is insecurity when it comes to the issue of confidentiality of the information. It was found that personal health records can be accessed by other people who may leak the information to their friends or even mass media. When the Health IT is implemented, health care providers should come up with strategies aimed at ensuring security of personal health records (Taylor, 2005). 2.2 Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and Electronic Health Records (EHRs) Electronic medical records used by health care providers store patients’ information. The EMRs are updated daily because they store daily patient documents indicating the treatment offered and the changes that have been made on the patient medical prescription. If health care providers change medical prescription of a particular patient, that information is entered into EMRs for the doctor who is on duty to cross-check so as to administer appropriate treatment if need be. EHRs are used just in the same way as the EMRs. They serve the same purpose but the difference is their storage capacities. EHRs have high storage capacity as compared to EMRs; due to this reason they are used in large health care organizations (Wagacha & Muthomi, 2008). 2.3 Electronic Prescribing (Prescribing or eRx) Studies show that the implementation of health IT has led to the emergent of Electronic Prescription that was used to transmit patients’ prescription information from one organization to another, for instance, if a patient has been transferred from one hospital to another. The referral organization transfers the patients’ health history through electronic device (Hughes & Ferrett, 2008). 2.4 Patients’ Portals These are websites that are provided by health care providers to link them with the patients. The patients are able to interact with their doctors through patients portals. Patients’ portals provide a link between the doctor and the patients; they act as a bridge between the organization and the patients (Dyro, 2010). 3.0 Research Methodology The study will use a descriptive research design to investigate the integration of health IT in health care centers. The method will be aimed at investigating the impacts of the integration of Health IT on people’s health. This method was preferably chosen for the study because it allows for an in-depth analysis of the case (Taylo, 2005). 3.1 Target Population The target population in this study will be the health care providers, the patients and other medical practitioners who might be providing health care. 3.2 Sample Design The researcher will consider a sample size of 40 respondents in which twenty of them will be patients and the rest would be doctors, nurses and other medical practitioners. 3.3 Data Collection Instrument The researcher will use questionnaire to collect data from the target population. The questionnaire will consist of ten questions for the respondents to answer (Wagacha & Muthomi, 2008). We are going to carry out a quantitative and qualitative study. The quantitative study will aim at identifying relevant numeric data (Summerhayes, 2010). 4.0 Recommendation and Conclusion This research proposal has revealed some key areas in health that can be improved by incorporation of IT. IT has been used in other fields and it has greatly helped. Despite the many errors that happen in health management and safety, there is need for improved IT. It has been used before but in previous cases it has shown less positive results. More of health IT should be incorporated to improve health security and also health management. These are the problems in many hospitals, like the one in the study. More technological research should be done on health IT. It would lead to more improvement in this field which is a very fundamental sphere to help human beings survive in their ecological environment without any problems. In the developed countries this kind of technology has greatly advanced; therefore, the developing countries can learn from them and they set their own strategies which would attribute to a better health. More funds should be directed in this so that all problems are mitigated. It is a good way which can be used to solve these errors like bad recordings, wrong surgeries on patients, wrong debts and other errors which are due to poor IT provision. Also the communication between the professionals in this field should be enhanced. This would lead to effective and quality performance. The ministries in different countries which are involved with the health of the people should set realistic strategies on Health IT which would even lower the death rate. Many lives are lost due to these errors; this can be solved through good incorporation of IT into the sector. 5.0 References Dyro, J.F. (2004).Clinical engineering handbook. Amsterdam: Academic Press. Hughes, P.L., & Ferrett, P.R. (2008). Introduction to Health and Safety in Construction: The Handbook for Construction Professionals and Students on NEBOSH and Other Construction Courses.3rd ed. London: Routledge. Summerhayes, S.P. (2010). Design Risk Management: Contribution to Health and Safety. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Taylor, B.J. (2005). Effective environmental, health and safety management using the team approach. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Wagacha, J.M., & Muthomi, J.W. (2008). Mycotoxin problem in Africa: Current status, implications to food safety and health and possible management strategies. International journal of food microbiology. Vol.124 (1).p. 1-12. Read More