Ji Sun Sally Kim IWA #1
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Harrisburg University of Science and Technology *
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Course
500
Subject
Health Science
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
docx
Pages
5
Uploaded by JudgeEchidnaMaster1024
Ji Sun “Sally” Kim
HCIN 500-50 A
Dr. Steven Hardy
September 5, 2023
Assignment #1
1.
Define healthcare informatics and list the various kinds of professionals who practice it
Healthcare informatics is a field that manages “healthcare data and information through
the application of computers and other information technologies” (Hoyt et al., 2018, p. 20).
Under the large umbrella of healthcare informatics, there are various subcategories such as
bioinformatics and clinical informatics (Hoyt et al., 2018, p. 21). This field is broad with copious
amounts of information flowing in from various sources and being used by professionals in
various settings. Physicians and nurses in the medical field can input patient information and pull
up previous patient records; this is the case with professionals in the dental field as well.
Professionals in the pharmaceutical industry can view the prescriptions the physicians have put
in the patient’s records, fill the prescriptions, and consult the patients based on the chart that they
are able to access and view. Imaging and research informatics professionals such as radiologists
are also viewing various files from different departments in the hospital and input their
observations into the system, which can then be used by physicians and nurses to create
diagnoses. Public health organizations and their officials can use the data collected by these
various professionals and can detect problems in real-time, monitor healthcare practices, and
support public health plans (Dixon & Rahurkar, 2018, pp. 1070
–
1071).
2.
List at least 4 of the driving forces behind healthcare informatics and discuss 2 in detail
Some of the major driving forces behind adopting healthcare informatics are to “increase
the efficiency of healthcare,” to “improve the quality of healthcare, resulting in improved patient
safety,” to “reduce healthcare costs,” to improve healthcare access with technologies such as
telemedicine,” to “improve communication, coordination, and continuity of care,” to “improve
medical education for clinicians and patients,” and to “standardiz[e] medical care” (Hoyt et al.,
2018, pp. 26-27). Back when everything was on paper, information was not easily accessible as
one would need to go through shelves of binders to find that
one
piece of paper that had the
information that they were looking for. This would seriously slow down the healthcare
professionals in their process of trying to assist and care for a patient, which could result in either
low efficiency or the physician just not looking for that one piece of paper and going ahead with
the patient care with whatever information they have which could decrease the quality of the care
being provided to the patient and potentially risk the patient’s health and safety.
On a bigger scale, for public health officials, being able to see everyone’s data mapped
out and analyzed can help notice a trend—for example, a series of severe fever and rash
outbreaks in a certain region—and possibly identify a problem that may be occurring regionally
and create a plan of attack to counter the ongoing issue. This can not only possibly prevent more
patients from being, but accordingly save the costs associated with patient care and mitigating
the damages done by the disease outbreak. These costs can be anything from having to create and
send care packages, hiring extra medical professionals from outside the area to provide extra
assistance at the affected area, to insurance companies (or the government depending on the
insurance situation of the patients) paying for the actual medical care that the affected patients
are receiving.
3.
List at least 4 barriers to full implementation of healthcare informatics and discuss 2 in
detail
Some of the barriers to healthcare informatics implementation are inadequate time,
inadequate information, inadequate expertise and workforce, inadequate cost and return on
investment data, high cost to adopt, change in workflow, privacy concerns, legal issues,
behavioral change, and lack of interoperability between technologies. Inadequate time, for
example, is most commonly discussed when it comes to the barriers to implementing technology.
Busy physicians not only lack the time to fully learn about new technologies or research the
vendors but they also are not reimbursed for the time that it takes for them to learn these new
technologies (Hoyt et al., 2018, p. 57). A 2016 study noted that “for every hour physicians
provide direct clinical face time to patients, nearly 2 additional hours is spent on EHR and desk
work within the clinic day” (Hoyt et al., 2018, p. 57). Because of the lack of time to learn and
adopt healthcare information technologies, there is a need for ample expertise in those who are
not already busy with patient care, so that physicians and nurses can have someone to turn to in
order to attain assistance with the new technologies.
However, as previously noted, there is also a shortage of expertise and workforce. For
widespread healthcare informatics adoption and implementation, all healthcare workers – and
frankly any user of healthcare informatics technologies – need to be educated (Hoyt et al., 2018,
p. 57). Since many healthcare information technology vendors look for individuals with both IT
and clinical experiences, education on informatics should be offered at various levels of
education with training continuously being provided to equip the users with the most recent
technology. This will be the case for residents in training and faculty at these educational
institutions (Hoyt et al., 2018, p. 58). Unfortunately, healthcare informatics is still relatively a
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new topic with not a lot of awareness as to its needs which does not help bring more individuals
to the field. Additionally, there is obviously a cost to implementing new educational programs at
these institutions and a cost to providing continuous education for these healthcare professionals.
References
Dixon, B. E., & Rahurkar, S. (2018). Public Health Informatics. In Hoyt, R. E., & Hersh, W. R.
(Eds.),
Health Informatics: Practical Guide
(7th ed., pp. 1070–1071). Lulu.com. Retrieved
September 1, 2023, from https://www.scribd.com/read/485889587/Health-Informatics-
Practical-Guide-Seventh-Edition.
Hoyt, R. E., Bernstam, E. V., & Hersh, W. R. (2018). Overview of Health Informatics. In Hoyt,
R. E., & Hersh, W. R. (Eds.),
Health Informatics: Practical Guide
(7th ed., pp. 20–21, 27,
56-62). Lulu.com. Retrieved September 1, 2023, from
https://www.scribd.com/read/485889587/Health-Informatics-Practical-Guide-Seventh-
Edition.