Information technology in healthcare includes the various hardware, software and infrastructure developed to retrieve and manage patient information within the healthcare system. The public health field is highly information intensive requiring accurate and timely information to be obtained from various sources. Public health has its main functions centered on health assessment, health assurance and development of policies to promote public health. All these functions require data and information to be exchanged in a timely and authoritative manner (O’Carroll, 2003). The use of information systems in public health has played a major role in the improvement of healthcare quality.
Information technology has also found application in the field of surgery through the use of computer-aided interventions. One of the applications of technology in surgery is the use of image-guided surgery which allows the surgeon perform surgical procedures with minimal invasion on the patient’s body. Surgery that involves minimal invasion permits access to parts of the body that are hard to reach and reduces trauma implying that the patient will have less pain and require less time to recover from the surgery. These technologies are relatively low cost and are capable of generating highly detailed images within a very short time (Zielinski, Duplaga and Ingram, 2007).
Video conferencing is another form of technology that has been applied to surgery. With video conferencing, surgical candidates can be screened remotely eliminating the need for them to make actual visits to the center for the surgery. The patients can also be prepared in advance for the surgery through video conferencing. Telemedicine has also proved very useful for monitoring and follow-up of patients after surgery. Quality treatment can therefore be provided to patients regardless of their location due to the flexibility offered by information technology especially telemedicine (Kiel, 2001).
Information Technology in Public Health and Information Technology in Surgery are linked in that public health data is collected from various sources one of which could be the data generated from surgery. Information technology in surgery provides timely data for the purpose of developing informed policies for public health. The output from computer-aided applications for surgery is in a form that is easily understood by professionals due to the 3D visual display and therefore it can be used more effectively as input for the public health systems (Tan, 2005).
Electronic Medical Record (EMR).
EMR refers to a record of the diagnosis and treatment of a patient in an electronic form. Some of the differences that the EMR has with the manual paper form of record is that; 1) the use of the EMR can be accessed by authorized people from different locations hence no location limitations, 2) the EMR permits linkage with other electronic devices for instant update of information and 3) the EMR may be prone to privacy problems owing to the fact that it is more difficult to control its access as compared to the paper record.
Electronic Health Record (EHR)
EHR is a more detailed form of EMR including demographic, medical history and other aspects of the patient’s health in addition to the information found in an EMR. The detailed nature of the EHR makes it more suitable for use as a source of data for public health. However, just like the EMR, the EHR faces the danger of abuse by unauthorized persons leading to violation of patient privacy (Revels and Ciampa, 2012).
Interoperability and compatibility with other systems.
Interoperability and compatibility of public health and surgery information systems with other systems is very important as it allows for the exchange and sharing of information across organizations and between authorized personnel in order to ensure provision of effective healthcare. EHRs are used together with other information technology systems that are compatible with different healthcare settings and processes to ensure exchange of information between hospitals, patients, physicians and other healthcare players. Exchange of healthcare information is of great important as it ensures that care is coordinated effective to ensure that it is of good quality (HIMSS, 2013).
Management and enterprise systems
Information technology in public health has brought about significant advancement in managed care. Many information systems have been made available providing more efficient delivery of health care. Cheaper and faster technologies have been made available increasing the potential of developing healthcare technologies (O’Carroll, 2003). The management of public health has been enhanced by the emergence of public health information systems such as GIS, data mining and data warehousing.
Cost
Individuals and governments have been faced with the challenge of dealing with increased cost of health care services. This has led to the realization that heath information is crucial for managing and planning for health care services more effectively. Information technology provides timely, accurate and authoritative data for both demographic and statistical use in terms of available resources for healthcare. The availability of this data to the public, media and healthcare professionals leads to development of informed policies geared towards accountability and cost reduction in healthcare delivery (Tulchinsky and Varavikova, 2009).
Conclusion
Healthcare information technology has played a major role in ensuring data security and contributing to quality patient care. Quality patient care is promoted through timely delivery of healthcare service which is less intrusive to the patient anatomy. In addition, healthcare information systems help in reducing medical errors as they allow for accurate acquisition and subsequent analysis of patient data.
Despite the usefulness of healthcare information systems, they are faced with challenges associated with data security. The electronic nature of the data makes it prone to access by unauthorized parties which could cause harm to the patient involved. However, currently the domain of the security of information technology is well established with extensive ways of protecting healthcare information. To achieve information security several safeguards of administrative, physical and technical nature have proved effective. The administrative safeguards are the policies and procedures that govern how healthcare information is handled. Physical safeguards are the methods for preventing the physical access to the computer systems that handle healthcare information. On the other hand, technical safeguards ensure the security of information by use of secured networks, restricted passwords, data encryption and firewalls. Loss of data has also been prevented by use of data back-ups which are recoverable in times of need.
References
Ciampa, M. and Revels, M. (2012). Introduction to Healthcare Information Technology: Cengage Learning.
HIMSS. (2013). Consistent Adoption of Health IT Exchange Standards and Implementation Guidelines: Retrieved from. http://www.himss.org/files/HIMSSorg/Congressional_Asks3_2013StandardsInteroperabil ity.pdf
Kiel, J. M. (2001). Information Technology for the Practicing Physician: Springer.
O’Carroll, P. W. (2003). Public Health Informatics and Information Systems: Springer.
Tan, J. (2005). E-Health Care Information Systems: An Introduction for Students and Professionals: John Wiley & Sons.
Tulchinsky, T. H. and Varavikova, E. (2009). The New Public Health: Academic Press.
Zielinski, K., Duplaga, M. and Ingram, D. (2007). Information Technology Solutions for Healthcare: Springer.
