HEALTHCARE & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
The state of healthcare in the United States is very much influenced and improved through the increased use of technology solutions. Whether it be the use of tablets, laptops, electronic healthcare records and some others, the use of technology has become more and more pervasive as the years and decades roll on. However, not everyone is sold on technology being a saving grace and those same people often think that technology solutions being added to healthcare actually do not help or that they make things worse rather than make them better. However, there is a cacophony of evidence that suggests and proves that electronic healthcare records, electronic administration and the use of information technology in a strategic and adept fashion actually makes things better over the long haul. This is true for patients, administrators, healthcare professionals and the wider network of providers that are typically also using electronic healthcare records (Campbell, 2010).
The gist of this proposal is that electronic and information technology solutions should become more robust and advanced as time goes on rather than the process stalling out and sputtering. To be sure, people will need to be trained in how to use the systems, how to keep the systems secure, general best practices and how it will look from a client facing standpoint all need to be defined and refined. However, not proceeding into the future is a disservice to the patients that will be using the services and this cannot be allowed to happen. That all being said, it should be done in an incremental way and all changes should be based on evidence-based practice rather than what "sounds cool" or what the competitors are doing. While the actions of other firms and organizations are not irrelevant, they are not necessarily doing things the right or best way. As such, a fully effective and proper solution should be figured out before making or committing to any changes (Campbell, 2010).
Statement of the Problem
The problem as it exists with the subject already mentioned comes down to several questions:
Should healthcare providers embrace electronic solutions such as electronic healthcare records (EHR) and other information services-based means?
Are there downsides from shifting from a paper- and form-based approach to one that is electronic only or electronic-complemented?
How much training and learning will be necessary to adopt and integrate technologies into the practices and capabilities of an organization?
Will existing staff and personnel resist and otherwise not buy in to the technological chains that are needed or will they embrace it?
Are there some information technology solutions that are more trouble than they are worth and/or are they just not ready for the "big time" in terms of being used in a real and active medical practice?
Are there going to be security and legal concerns involved with an electronic-only workplace such as HIPAA violations and hacking from the outside?
In a nutshell, the general vibe is that healthcare information technology is absolutely the wave of the future. However, some solutions are hard to implement, some people have or will resist the changes, making the information more accessible to healthcare providers also makes it easier for hackers to get them and so forth. The United States is a country where healthcare information leaking out to the press or the public (e.g. The health status of celebrities like Britney Spears) happens quite a bit so the clarion calls about privacy are real and legitimate (Campbell, 2010).
History of the Problem
The history of the problem is not all that long in terms of years because the "computer age" we are in right now is much larger than it was, let us say, pre-1994. Indeed, computers were used fairly extensively in the corporate sphere before the mid-1990's but it was the World Wide Web that truly got the internet going. Only twenty years have passed since then but the technologies that have emerged in the medical and other corporate spheres of the world have been massive. For example, there was a day where sending a patient's records from one place to another would require mail or fax. However, nowadays such records can be sent almost instantaneously once approval from the patient is received. Similarly, when a patient gets their vitals and other information tallied by one machine or person, then that data can be uploaded into the system right away rather than there being a delay. In short, a lot of the tasks that used...
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