Advanced Information Management and the Application of Technology Advantages and Disadvantages of a Health Information System Health information systems (HIS) are complex and it is helpful to understand advantages and disadvantages to some key components of a HIS. This section will describe the advantages and disadvantages of usability, interoperability, scalability and compatibility. Usability refers to the ability of the user to easily use the HIS. For example, in the hospital setting, one might study the usability of the HIS and how it affects the workflow of a staff nurse. An advantage of superior usability is that the staff nurse is able to document easily with an understanding of technical components. This could increase the …show more content…
Likewise, having a health information system that does not have scalability could mean astronomical costs for an organization that want to grow in size. Another disadvantage may be utter confusion by staff, if a hospital is growing and they must learn an entirely new HIS. Compatibility is the ability for software to work with each other or other devices, such as different versions of software that work with a particular desktop computer (Mastrian &McGonigle, 2017). An advantage of compatibility would be decreasing the risk of error in data entry, since one would be able to minimize the amount of data entry. For example, if a laboratory uses a software system that is compatible with a health information systems, once the result is documented in the lab system, it would be shared and with the HIS and stored in one location. A disadvantage to compatibility is keeping up to date with all current versions of the same software. This can be costly & could result in issue with performance if different versions are running together. Patient Care and Documentation Inevitably, health information systems (HIS) affect both patient care and documentation. Consider the following scenario. A patient with hypertension schedules routine appointments with his primary care physician. At every appointment, the nurse documents the blood pressure reading along with the most updated list of medications that the patient is currently taking. After
It has only been within the last five years that health information management (HIM) has experienced exponential changes, due to the healthcare reform. The electronic health record (EHR) is connected to health information exchanges and other systems of interoperability. The timely completion of charts, coding and release of information (ROI) has become much more efficient with the electronic record. Traditional HIM functions will just be transformed and will always be an integral part of successful patient care. Professionals must be flexible and willing to adapt and even generate change. As Health Information Technology continues to evolve, so will the roles
Information in healthcare needs to be meticulous, detailed, appropriate and up to date. It is critical the information we obtain and share on patients is accurate and easily available in an instant. The growth of the information technology industry has grown dramatically in the last 10-15 years, and the healthcare industry recognizes its importance. The mandate set forth in 2004 by the Office of the National
There was no standard way of keeping patient data on healthcare applications. There was no communication between software companies on how interfaces in healthcare applications were to be built hence software applications were not compatible with each other. It is important that healthcare organizations follow the same standards when setting up their healthcare information system, thus creating interoperability so that the sharing and exchange of information within and across healthcare providers is facilitated. As a result, a volunteer group introduced the Health Level Seven Standard (HL7) for healthcare organizations to follow the same standards when developing their healthcare information system so that data can be shared seamlessly. In a nutshell, HL7 was introduced for the following
In the last decade, Health Information Technology (HIT) has been drastically changing due to the constant development of new technologies. With these new technologies comes faster, more efficient ways to practice medicine. Amongst these new technologies is the Electronic Health Record (EHR).
The usability evaluation study was designed and utilized to assess administrative or clinical task in the Electronic Health Record, analyze the utilization of VA Blue Button application, discuss the benefits of using this consumer health informatics software and determine if it meets the needs of consumers, and discuss additional solutions which solves the consumer’s problem. Particularly, this assessment will consider the attributes related to administrative or clinical task usability in the form of content clarity as well as the visual design of this system.
Interoperability – There has been a deficiency of standards which mandate interoperability across the various mHealth solutions. This is one of the major reasons for limiting the scalability of mHealth solutions. The consumers often transmit data they collect using their mobile device to their health records or health care provider, which generally aids the provider in diagnosis. The health care provider can also possibly incorporate this data in the patient/consumer’s EHR (Electronic Health Record). Such prospects could raise various multi layered issues relating interoperability (e.g. - technical, semantic, legal, organizational).
The purpose of this project was to overview on the effects of health information technology integration (HIT). This report is mainly focused on understanding of health information technology, specifically on use of health information technology as significant use. Scope of this literature review, given the current state of health information functionality 8.
They focused on the design, selection, and implementation of health information systems (Hebda & Czar, 2012). It is crucial to obtain support from nurses and physicians when selecting a system they will use. “Nurses are resistant to change unless they see the potential benefits” (Hebda & Czar, 2012, p, 146)
Health information management involves the practice of maintaining and taking care of health records in hospitals, health insurance companies and other health institutions, by the use of electronic means (McWay 176). Storage of medical information is carried out by health information management and HIT professionals using information systems that suit the needs of these institutions. This paper answers four major questions concerning health information systems.
Breakdowns in communication and data exchange trials are persistent and universal in healthcare, continuing between varies areas within the system such as providers, vendors, consumers, payers, and other ancillary services. Although, informatics has given a gleam of hope of networks connecting with seamless capability and an indefinite amount of data, the remaining issue lies in the disconnection between the multiple information storage areas to meet and produce an improvement in patient care. There are three types of interoperability, functional, structural, and sematic; and reviewing these different types of interoperability will give insight on the different areas within the health care system interface. First, functional is the basic type of electronic communication such as the ability to communicate with sending or receiving a message. This can be demonstrated in the clinical note which is a free text or patient portal where the information does not require any interpretation. Administrative service is another area that utilize this
Interoperability refers to the ability to exchange information among health care providers in order to assure an accurate and faster assistance to patients. The idea of interoperability seems to be the answer to the great demand for faster and reliable health care delivery. Patients cross estates, cities and county boundaries constantly and to be able to have access to a patient record nationwide or worldwide can make the different at between death and life. I believe big steps have been taken in order to accommodate the use of interoperability and create a common health care language of communication. The three types of interoperability foundational, structural and semantic make communication exchange and interpertation by two computers possible
Due to astronomical cost that can be associated with the implementation/upgrading current computer system, resistance might stem from the administrative team as well. Implementing new or upgrading information system required a long term financial commitment, and the return of on invested might not be visible in the near future. Additionally, organization barriers are complex, and it will require redesigning the entire workflow process of the entire healthcare organization. Hence, the success of the proposed change might lies with the acknowledgements of these barriers, and buy-in from the administrative
The Barriers of Electronic Medical Record Systems and How to Overcome Them, by Clement J. McDonald. The Barriers of Electronic Medical Records System and How to Overcome Them is a literature review that explains more in-depth the barriers of adopting Electronic Medical Records and solutions. Dr. Clement list two major barriers that are faced when implementing or adopting Electronic Medical Record Systems. First barrier that Dr. Clement list is the fact that there are too many different separate systems with different data structures. Dr. Clement labels these multiple systems as data islands. Each island contains different data, different structures, and different levels of granularity. The multitude of patient data islands poses a huge barrier to the adoption of a single Electronic Medical Record system. The second barrier that Dr. Clement lists is the multitude of numbers of different kind of care providing sites in the United States (“Table 2,” jamia.oxfordjournals.org, May 1, 1997). The challenge of the multitude of number of different kind of care providing sites in the United States is further complicated by the fact that larger organizations such as hospitals do not always perform test in house or capture information that is not of interest to the practitioners. Lab results are sent to a third party lab for analysis is an example of such barrier. Dr. Clement lists
The history of Health Information Management (HIM) and Health Informatics (HI) has evolved from using descriptive anatomical terminology within documents…to an electronic system where medical personnel can store and retrieve patient health information (Green & Bowie, 2016). Distinctively defined as different entities, by the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), both the HIM and HI bring to the forefront patient data that can be expended by diverse agencies and departments (American Health Information Management Association, 2016).
It is a great opportunity if information technology can be easily integrated and found in minor aspects of health care organizations. This opportunity can be of a great value for all health concerned people. Connecting granular aspects of health care data with information technology to provide vivid insights about our health sounds delighting, however, lack of investments in such areas and use of primitive systems halt such processes to be fully implemented.