Use of Information Technology in Medicine

Latour, Kathleen and Eichenwald-Maki, eds. (2009). HI300: Information Technology & Systems for Healthcare. Chicago: American Health Information Management Association

Healthcare delivery system in recent times is confronted with a lot of problems, cost, accessibility and quality of care. To be able to address these problems, healthcare organizations rely on information science technology to enhance cost-effectiveness, and safe quality care.

Integration will lead to superior diagnoses as doctors will have access to medical records from across the country, enabling them to draw on the diagnoses of other doctors facing similar situations. It will also allow for seamless care as records for the same patients will be instantly accessible and fully up to date wherever they go. The application layer will be standardized, with a consumer-facing mobile and web application and a doctor-facing web portal. While the way care is administered differs from hospital to hospital and clinic to clinic, what a practitioner needs from an IT solution will remain relatively constant.

Healthcare information technology forms a pivotal part of today 's healthcare system. Improved quality of healthcare, patient safety, drastic reduction in medical errors and enhancement of care delivery is possible because of the induction of these solutions in the healthcare delivery environment. Today, healthcare IT solutions are enabling processes like planning, decision-making related to organizational development, strategic planning to drive growth, recruitment of competent personnel, managing employee benefits, payroll, intra-department communication, etc.

Introduction: Technology is a constantly changing and evolving field. Those changes can be used to make the lives of people easier in every single way. With the creation of computers and the internet we have been applying technological changes in the health care world for years now. Patients can access their records with a few swipes at their keyboard and share records with other providers. In addition, providers can share reports with each other just as easily.

Health care professionals have described how information technology is changing the way health care operates, and it has become the modern way of staying in touch with patients who have chronic conditions (Muhammad, Allen, Ali, Bonacina, & Adams, 2014). Education for patients can help prevent the addition of secondary conditions, and with proper instruction the disease process can be slowed down, all support patients can receive will benefit them and their family (Enworom & Tabi, 2015).

Rural areas tend to be underserved and often excluded from new advancements in technology and healthcare. Small and rural communities often need help overcoming issues in the healthcare environment related to distance, personnel shortages, and implementing new technology. According to AHRQ, although adoption rates for new technology have progressed over recent years; however, overall rates are still low. “Clinical health information technologies, such as electronic health records (EHRs), computerized provider order entry (CPOE), and electronic medication administration record (eMAR) systems are problematic areas (AHRQ, 2011). The Agency for

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

An electronic health records (EHRs) has the simplest, digital (computerized) versions of patient 's paper charts. But, (EHRs) when fully up and running are so much more than that. EHRs are real-time patient-centered records. They make information available instantly "whenever and wherever it is needed." And they bring together in one place everything about a patient 's health. EHRs can: contain information about a patient 's medical history, diagnoses, medications, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images, lab and test results; offer access to evidence-based tools that providers can use in making decisions about a patient 's care, automate and streamline provider’s workflow, increase organization and accuracy of patient information, support key market changes in payer requirements and consumer expectations. One of the key features of an EHR is that it can

Our world has been radically transformed by digital technology – smart phones, tablets, and web-enabled devices have transformed our daily lives and the way we communicate. Medicine is an information-rich enterprise. A greater and more seamless flow of information within a digital health care infrastructure, created by electronic health records (EHRs), encompasses and

Healthcare organizations (HCOs) are implementing patient portals and beginning to allow the patient access to pieces of their record online through web portals. This is a step toward actually implementing an electronic health record (EHR). According to Garets and Davis (2006), an EHR is actually a subset of an electronic medical record (EMR) and is actually an interactive piece that allows the patient to add and correct data in their personal EHR over time. Data is shared with the regional health information organization (RHIO) or the national health information network (NHIN) via summary documents like the continuity of care record (CCR) or continuity of care document (CCD). In order for the patient to have the ability to share this data

Health Information Technology (HIT) has a range of technologies that manages and shares patient information electronically without the use of the paper records. The value of HIT to change health care delivery has been recognized and as it has many new opportunities to improve patient care and safety as well as efficiency and data collection.

It is important to understand that patients are very satisfied with electronic health systems. For example, patients see a vast improvement in the speed at which they are being seen when they go their doctors’ office. Patients no longer have to wait on their physicians for hours due to the fact that their information can be readily available to their physicians when they come to see them. Moreover, all their information is transparent to their health care provider since all their data is in electronic form.

Electronic health record The methodologies and frameworks designed to capture health data and incorporate it into an Electronic Health Record (EHR) continued to mature rapidly given advances in database and Web development technologies (Wager, Lee, Glaser, 2009). An EHR will often be used throughout each stage of a patients'; treatment

The future trends in health care are limitless. From using applications that perform EKG’s to robot-assisted surgery, the rapid expansion of technology applications in health care is astounding. Advancing technology also pushes the boundaries of health care in its ability to integrate health care information. The integration of health care information is critical to the effective, efficient delivery of quality care in a now fragmented health care system. This paper will assess how the internet or any new forms of electronic communication can be used as an external delivery source of communicating patient-specific information, address the impact of distance delivery on health care, how these communication issues impact health care today and