Applying Technology Into The Health Care Industry

Technology is constantly advancing and improving the quality of life. An idea is presented and it becomes a solution to a problem. Technological advances in the health care field have improved the care given to patients, made diagnoses more precise, decreased surgeries times, and enhanced the medical field in so many ways that it can not be addressed in this one page paper.

When it comes to medication errors several things may occur such as adverse drug event, unexpected deterioration, and even death in severe cases. AHRQ (2015) states, “an adverse drug event (ADE) is defined as harm experienced by a patient as a result of exposure to a medication, and ADEs account for nearly 700,000 emergency department visits 100,000 hospitalizations each year.” There are many ways that errors may occur such as dispensary errors, prescription errors

Over the past decade, virtually every major industry invested heavily in computerization. The heath care industry was no exception to the rise in the use of technology. These technologies are starting to allow health care practitioners to offer faster, and more efficient patient care than ever before. No doubt this is the right direction we expect health care to follow.

Medication errors are focused on: terms and definitions; incidence of and harm; risk factors; avoidance; disclosure, legalities & consequences (Wittich, Burkle & Lanier, 2014). Medication errors categories have been developed by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). Examples of these categories are based on prescribing, omitting drugs not administered, timing, unauthorized drug, wrong dosage, wrong preparation, expired drug, not using laboratory data to monitor toxicity (Wittich, Burkle & Lanier, 2014). Additionally, this article examines in depth common causes leading to medication errors, drug nomenclature, similar sounding drugs, unapproved abbreviations and handwriting, medical staff shortages and manufacturer medication shortages. Even though this article provides an informative overview for physicians, other allied health personnel may benefit too. This is valuable knowledge for the health care professional not just physicians in order to provide safe care for their

Going back hundreds of years, we can trace the history of health care. Although it has evolved over the years, it all has a common goal; to heal those who are ill. Technology is one of the major evolutions and now plays a big role in the health care system. It helps patients to be more involved with their healthcare. They can make appointments, follow up on test results, and contact their doctors. Back then, they didn’t even have all the medicine we have now, let alone the technology. We can only imagine what is in store for the future.

Medical technology encompasses a wide range of healthcare products and is used to diagnose, monitor, and treat diseases or medical conditions that affect humans. This may included but not limited too, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and medical equipment. Such technologies are intended to improve the quality of healthcare delivered through earlier diagnosis, less invasive treatment options and reductions in hospital stays and rehabilitation times. Recent advances in medical technology have also focused on cost reduction. Medical technology may include medical devices, information technology, biotech, and healthcare services. The impacts of medical technology may involve social and ethical issues. For example physicians may seek objective information from technology rather than listening to subjective patient reports. A major contributor of healthcare expenditure in America is the advancement of medical technology. According to several studies it is shown that there is a correlation between the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) and money allocated to healthcare. One of the leading theories is that medical technology is growing faster than expected.

Although, the use of electronic health records (EHRs) not easy for healthcare organizations to implement or even can change due to their old way of doing things. For instance, Ajami at.el. 2011 & Castillo, 2010, both speaks of the importance of executives of clinics, vendors, physician, staff and IS leaders of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in the marketing, selection, implementation and utilization has contributed to a myriad of problems due to miscommunication, misinformation, and misinterpretation between them. This transition may be a challenge, but may go smoother through communication between each of them. Because it may give each of them the opportunity to share information in writing or speaking, sharing

Medication error is defined as the following by the National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention: “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of health care professional, patient, or consumer. Such events may be related to professional practice, health care products, procedures, and systems, including prescribing; order communication; product labeling; packaging, and nomenclature; compounding; dispensing; distribution; administration; education; monitoring; and use” (Anthony, Wiencek, Bauer, Daly, & Anthony, 2010). Medication errors cause increased length of patient hospitalization and morbidity and mortality (Pape

When the physicians tries to buy the same EHR product as their hospital it’s trying to accomplish how to make process writing order from their practices to the hospital. The physicians would have better access to the information that is needed to monitor the patients. The provider would be able to tap into the other providers’ through EHR systems when they are covering the emergency room.

In observation, (Fahnestock, McComb, & Deshmukh, 2013) stated "Information technologies are transforming the way healthcare is delivered. Innovations such as computer-based patient records, hospital information systems, computer-based decision support tools, community health information networks and new ways of distributing health information.” (p.3.2). In the sector of delivering healthcare using technology, has made it easier for healthcare professionals to access medical records, digitization of prescriptions and view test results. With the use of high-performance devices being used in the hospital, helps to make the jobs of healthcare professionals a little easier. As well as relieve anxiety from anxious patients that may be awaiting lab results to come back. Therefore, IT devices and services has been and continues to be a tremendous help and game changer for the healthcare system. However, there is still a lot of work to be done to help shape and reform the healthcare

Technology has been advancing with the years, and it has changed how people live, communicate, travel, and learn. In particular, healthcare has changed due to the continuous technological advancements. Robotic advancements specifically have been transforming the health care industry. It is becoming noticeable that robotics are now being used for a variety of purposes in healthcare including drug making, moving supplies, administering drugs to patients, and monitoring patient vitals. A progressing form of robotics in healthcare is robotic surgery. One of the top functioning robotic surgery devices is the da Vinci Surgical System. Since 2000, surgical device has completed over 20,000 surgeries, which has set up the movement of using

In the United States an estimated 1.3 million people are injured every year for “medication errors”. One of the main errors would be involving where the patient would take an improper dose of the medicine. This has even cause 41% of fatal medication errors. Patients would either be taking more than needed or not enough. Another medication error would be prescribing the wrong type of medication for the patient and it tied in with using the wrong route of administration. This error accounted for 16% of deaths in the United States. The medication error for prescribing the wrong type of medication could happen when there are two medications with a similar name. A physician could also prescribe more than one drug but not realize that they would

The third step that health care institutions will need to implent to be successful is the use of technology and system integration. Technology is a vital change in health care. Technology changes everyday and so does the way that we use it. Currently, most health care institutions operate on a interdependent system but, due to the need for patient information to be accessed from any health care organization systems are slowly starting to become more interoperable with the goal that all health care organizations will be connected by one large system. With the increased technology and the need for these systems health care officals have to also be concerned about patient privacy. As healthcarebusiness tech.com(2016) states " As technology in

Strategic technology of healthcare has become a focal point for most health organizations. Almost everyone in this industry has been affected with the strategic technologies. It is one of the most drive for rapid advancement within an organization. In today’s world, the information is so quick and intense, strategic technology is becoming increasingly important. Most health care organizations exchange data through electronic health records of at their own office as well as other organizations. Strategic technology of healthcare continues to have a remarkable rate. Although it’s rising cost, strategic technologies also relate to services, policies, regulation, and benefits. It is used by everyone from the provider, the industry, and the patient.

Technology play an important role in health care. Many technologies has been proven to improve safety and efficiency of patient care. It helps freeing the nurse of non-value added activities, bring evidence for decision making at the point of care, create a better work environment for the practicing nurse, and enhance nursing workflow (Niemeier & Suchomski, 2011).