Health Care Informatics - Research Paper Example

HEALTH CARE INFORMATICS: e. The uses of decision aids and decision support systems: - Decision Support System (DSS) in health care can be definedin very simple words as a system that assists and enables clinicians and any health professional in making a decision towards right diagnosis and apt treatment. Although it comprises mainly software with all necessary/relevant data for instant analyses, it could not be confined only to computers, since the chief factors are knowledge base and information base.

The ever growing information base is virtually sifted through knowledge base, for which computer is the best tool. Diagnosis is a process of determining by clinical examination the nature and circumstances of a diseased condition. It requires ample data related to the patient’s condition both before and during the illness to assess a near interpretation of the disease. Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDDSS) exceptionally fulfils the data requirement for optimum diagnosis. However, the problem to be solved originates in the minds of the clinician or health care personnel and a DSS could not be expected to lead direct to a confirmed conclusion.

But the DSS are designed chiefly to avoid gross anomaly in diagnosis due to variance in expertise among clinicians. Thus Decision Support Systems facilitate potential reconciliation of one group of information with other. A refined definition of DSS is hence put as: A computer – based algorithm that assists a clinician with one or more component steps of diagnostic process. (Eta S.Berner, 1999) The term DSS is commonly construed as computer based system, since the micro views of clinical settings are generally contained within the perspectives of data bases, model bases, knowledge bases and graphical user interface.

However, the broader view of clinical setting is provided by system wide organisational perspective. In view of effective organisational management, the health industry has absorbed and created a virtual dependency on automation, making the usefulness and applicability of computers inevitable. (Joseph K.H. Tan et al, 1998)f. The uses of technology for patient client management: - Technological developments emerge as a result of innovation. The cult of innovation, although is universally recognised and accepted by virtue of its novelty at its core, the power of innovation is typically uncoiled at the intersection of three components namely, innovation, creativity and environment.

(Barbara A. Blakeney et al, 2009). The authors of this article have well established their notion on innovation by delineating two different models of innovation: User-driven innovation & Disruptive innovation. The team strongly believed that user-driven innovation focuses, churns and brings out the ability to customise the products handled. In support of this argument they have elucidated by putting forth a sparkling example of Smart Infusion Pump Technology developed at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2007.

The notable part of this development was that the system would alert the clinician when the programmed dosage was out of limit and would even prevent the administration of medication. Disruptive Innovation, in their elicitation, occurs by thinking differently and asking different questions in each situation that land on improvement of existing products. While attempting to define and explain creativity one is naturally prone to take into account the processes of thinking. ‘Out of the Box Thinking’ or ‘divergent thinking’ has nowadays gained momentum and attained universal acceptance towards creativity—creativity in many occasions are construed as the tools of problem solving—despite the current scenario in health care in which ‘linear’ or ‘convergent’ thinking is believed to have produce perfection in activities like correct medication, choosing an evidence-based intervention and carrying out the physical examinations.

The authors of the article find a tough time for divergent thinkers in health profession. The non-productive environment apparently prevailing in health care industry, wherein innovation, creativity and divergent thinking are stinky words, tends to pull back the technological developments and its usage. However, technology has the power to drag the industry with all its constraints and pressures, since the impact of these constraints directs most of the clinicians to get a way out in technology.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * Reference list –Barbara A. Blakeney, Penny Ford Carleton, Chris McCarthy, Edward Cokeley, 2009, “Unlocking the Power of Innovation”, OJIN, The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, Vol. 14. No.2 May 2009 retrieved from www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents//Vol142009/No2May09/Innovation.aspx on 29.01.10Eta S.Berner, 1999, pp. 3-6, “Clinical Decision Support Systems- theory and practice”, Springer, ISBN:0387339140Joseph K.H. Tan and Samuel Barry Sheps, 1998, pp.

3, “Health Decision Support Systems”, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, ISBN: 9780834210653