Capital Budgeting SLP - Essay Example

"Capital Budgeting SLP" is a wonderful example of a paper on the health system.
The use of computers to simplify the performance of many tasks is a practice that is in use in many areas. One of the areas in which computer use is applied is in the area of health care, where information technology is used to simplify many tasks. In this regard, the use of information technology to simplify the provision of medical services and related tasks is referred to as health informatics (Cesnik and Kidd, 2010). Broadly, health informatics refers to the use of information technology in health care to develop ways and procedures that can help health care personnel diagnose and help patients more effectively. The use of health informatics can be traced back to the introduction of the first computer, but the specific use in health care is perhaps attributable to the use of the first CT scanner in the 1950s. Following the perfection of programming languages, the use of health informatics has evolved to the current use in many areas of the health care profession. As previously stated, health informatics is used in the medical profession to diagnose and provide treatment options for patients, which in turn helps in the simplification of the health care process

According to Clark and Lang (1992), the use of health care informatics has several benefits for the health care profession, with the most notable being the cost-benefit. The use of health care informatics is significant in cost reduction because of the elimination of inefficient processes, which in turn helps to reduce costs. The second benefit of health informatics is the improvement of health record management, which is achieved by the introduction of electronic health records. Health care informatics also allows for the early detection of health trends and threats, since the electronic records allow for ease of monitoring. The last benefit of health informatics is in patient education, which is achieved by monitoring of patient habits and the provision of efficient surveys on demographics (Hebda, Czar, and Mascara, 2004).

This SLP will focus on the use of health informatics in nursing, an area that is diverse and provides a good focus for research. From research, it can be identified that nursing informatics can be traced back to the 1960s, where the Program Oriented Medical Information System was first introduced (Graves and Corcoran, 1989). Nursing sector reform has been recognized as the key enabler of health care reform, and with this acknowledgment, nursing informatics has been developed. According to Hannah, Ball, and Edwards (2005), nursing informatics is an essential component of health care reform, and recent trends suggest that its use has helped reduced patient fatality by more than 25%. The expert also indicates that the use of nursing informatics has helped increase patient education by a significant percentage, which is improved by learning patient demographics and educational level. In support of this fact, Hannah (2002), states that nurses must have the ability to access and process patient data, which is only emphasized by the presence of effective informatics systems. This will help in the support of patient care delivery in different delivery of care scenarios. The ready access to information concerning patients helps in the efficient provision of these services.