Health care is a very important part in the lives of people from the young and adults, rich and poor. A healthy society is a healthy nation and it is the responsibility of every citizen to ensure that they stay healthy. Information technology enhances healthcare and in the recent past and it has really improved the delivery of the healthcare to the humanity. The health information system stores data for patients; this has helped in keeping accurate records. The data obtained assists in predictive modeling. The computers store large amount of information, which makes accessibility to them much easier.
Initially records were on paper and now that the records are computerized, there is a big risk because the software used by medical centers is different and linking the information becomes difficult. Consistency is lost while making the information digitally obtained. The information cannot be shared because of different software providers. Developing the healthcare information systems requires many funds to buy the software, hardware and having personnel trained to handle the systems (Dewan et al, 2011). The system developers create new systems every now and then rendering the acquired systems obsolete and this poses another challenge of acquiring new systems to keep up with technology.
For the health care information technologies to continue to be of benefit strategies must be made to ensure that both the private and public clinicians are interconnected to ease information flow. Another strategy that needs to be in place is to develop a common surveillance system that will allow the exchange of information between the health practitioners and the patients. The software developers should engage the health officers in their research to develop new software’s for consistency.
The leaders in both the private and public sector should make efforts to ensure the adoption of healthcare information technologies (Stegwee & Spill, 2001). These efforts should emanate from the local government, state and the federal government. When the public and the private sector leaders cooperate, a competitive healthcare information technology is achieved.
References
Dewan, N. A., Luo, J. S., Lorenzi, N. M., Hannah, K. J., & Ball, M. J. (2011). Information technology essentials for behavioral health clinicians. New York: Springer.
Stegwee, R. A., & Spill, T. A. M. (2001). Strategies for healthcare information systems: []. Hershey, Penn [u.a.: Idea Group Publ.
