The Use of Information Systems in the Health Sector Free Sample

Question: Identify the Main Issues as Presented in the Case Study? As a Health Service Manager, what would you do to Improve the Patient Care Journey using ICT? What would be the benefits of your redesign? Answer: Introduction. Health informatics standards refer to the health standards which are set up through consensus and proven by recognized bodies. The standards are mainly established to provide procedures, rules, directions, characteristics of health-related activities and the interpretation. Health standards need to digitalize such that the consolidated results are not only scientific but are also a product of technology and experience(Ayres, Soar, Conrick, 2006). In this essay, I shall focus on a case study where a patient, Jane, discovers that she is pregnant. Jane requests the primary physician for a referral to a nearby birth center. The patient got a referral to the neighborhood birth center regardless of the tedious processes involved such as making appointments, registration and keeping all she was going through a secret from her boss. Jane had to undergo the same challenges again after the nearby birth center referred her to the proximal main hospital. At the main hospital, she had to registe r and wait for her turn. But unfortunately, the phlebotomist did not assist her since it was a Saturday. Jane was to come back again on a weekday, but on weighing risks whether to keep her job and secret or forgo the genetic test for cystic fibrosis, she decided to forgo the genetic test. I will also focus on the emerging issues, how ICT can be used to improve patient care journey, its merits and major obstacles facing ICT redesign. Key issues Emerging out of Janes Case Study The first issue is between Jane and her boss. Throughout the entire process of Jane making appointments and seeking a referral from her primary physician up to getting an appointment to visit the main hospital, she keeps it a secret from her boss. Jane did not want her boss to know that she is pregnant. Reason? Most probably, the boss was strict concerning workers attendance and staying at work until to the end of set working hours. Additionally, the issue of making an appointment. Jane went through hard moments trying as much as possible to book a date of meeting her primary physician, mid-wife at the nearby hospital and the phlebotomist during her working hours. Repeated clinical examination procedures is another issue that emerges. The day Jane meets her primary physician, the physician conducts a pregnancy test on Jane using urine as the test sample, which was similar to what Jane used to detect her pregnancy. Registration issue which results in duplication of the patients demographic data in all the places where Jane visited, she had to register afresh with the respective receptionists. A lot of paperwork was also a discouraging issue; Jane had to move around with referral form prepared by her physician and the receptionists. Finally, Jane had an issue had an issue upon being asked to respond to a risk assessment survey at the hospital by the midwife. Jane would have preferred to take the survey while at home so that she could consult her mother about the reproductive history of her family. Use of ICT to Improve the Patient Care Journey I firmly believe that going digital in all our health centers is a big relieve to our patients. Through, the Information and communication technology new health products shall be developed and launched, innovations and inventions discovery, safe way of storing, processing and recording data(Brown, Patrick, Pasupathy, 2006). IT will digitalize the administrative and clinical departments. For the administrative section, I shall advocate for the development of applications which identifies the patient upon registering and receiving the username and password. Through the patient administration system, patients can access their medical information, make bookings online and consult the doctors conveniently. ICT Information System Using Janes Case Scenario PRIMARY PHYSICIAN -Digitalized receptionist registers and creates an online patient portal for Jane. -Jane meets her doctor and pregnancy test is done and the test results sent to the patients portal -doctor refers Jane to the Birth center BIRTH CENTER CLINIC -Jane meets the mid-wife. Jane logs in to her patient portal so that the mid-wife would see the pregnancy test results shared by the primary physician. -Jane gets an online referral to the main hospital to see the phlebotomist for a fibrosis cystic genetic test PATIENT ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM -Jane has the username and password. -Jane logs in into her patient portal. -Jane makes all appointments and consultations online. MAIN HOSPITAL -Jane meets the phlebotomist for a fibrosis cystic genetic test. -Jane gives logs in to the patient portal for the phlebotomist to view her pregnancy test results. - Jane advised to revisit the hospital on a weekday for the genetic test. Clinical information systems should also be in place for the smooth transfer of the patients test results, recommendations, data to other health departments such as the pharmacy, doctors consultation room, and finance. Furthermore, shall develop an application which sends notifications, reminders electronically to the patients(Mold, et al., 2013). I will also advocate for the creation of the decision support systems in which the health personnel can share ideas to reach an agreement on a given patients condition. In all the systems, I will ensure that theres functionality, connectivity to each other with a central control system and server. Benefits and Major Obstacles of the ICT Redesign Technology will save the health staff and patients time, bring to an end of hectic paper works, enable doctors and other medical officers to get and share patient's information easily(Mantas, Hasman, Househ, 2015). Regardless of the benefits, implementation of ICT might be costly. For instance, will incur the cost of training the new users, supervision costs, purchase and installation of computer systems. Some workers and patients may resist the use of technology. Confidential information of patients may be hacked and leaked. Conclusion Through the use of information systems and information technology in the health sector, will improve the patients care journey. References Brown, G. D., Patrick, T. B., Pasupathy, K. S. (Eds.). (2013).Health informatics: a systems perspective. Ayres, D., Soar, J., Conrick, M. (2006).Health information systems(pp. 197-211). Thomson, Social Science Press. Mantas, J., Hasman, A., Househ, M. S. (Eds.). (2015).Enabling Health Informatics Applications(Vol. 213). IOS Press. Mold, F., Ellis, B., De Lusignan, S., Sheikh, A., Wyatt, J. C., Cavill, M., ... Koczan, P. (2013). The provision and impact of online patient access to their electronic health records (EHR) and transactional services on the quality and safety of health care: systematic review protocol.Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics,20(4), 271-282.