Term Paper on "Impact of Being a 100 Most Wired Hospital"

Term Paper 8 pages (2249 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Wired Hospital

In today's time, information technology has invaded almost, if not, all major industries around the world. There are a lot of things, machineries, equipments nowadays that are run by information technology. Good examples for these are (http://www.atis.org/tg2k/_information_technology.html,2006):

Telephone and radio equipment and switches used for voice communications.

Traditional computer applications that include data storage and programs to input, process, and output the data.

Software and support for office automation systems such as word processing and spreadsheets, as well as the computer to run them.

Users' PCs and software.

Server hardware and software used to support applications such as electronic mail/groupware, file and print services, database, application / web servers, storage systems, and other hosting services.

Data, voice, and video networks and all associated communications equipment and software.

Peripherals directly connected to computer information systems used to collect or transmit audio, video or graphic information, such as scanners and digitizers.

Voice response systems that interact with a computer database or application.

The state radio communications network.

Computers and network systems used by teachers, trainers, and students for educational purposes

Open/integrated" computer systems that monitor or automate mechanical or chemical processes and also store information used by computer applications for analysis and decision-making, such as the Metasys building management system.

These uses are the very reason why information technology has also been utilized in most hospitals. In fact, most hospitals nowadays, especially in the fully developed countries, are already 'wired'. This means that there are a number of hospitals which have found ways to improve the system through the use of information technology. In fact, there is one hospital which has been tagged as "100's Most Wired hospital."

The said hospital has been using information technology to make a difference in patient and nurse safety. Hand-held personal computers for paperless charting, omnicell technology for medication dispensing, Vocera for communication among employees, wireless portable telemetry to monitor heart of the patients on 3 campuses from a centralized location and nurses' station and identity badges that allows the employees easy admission to selected within the hospital premises as well as the ability to charge meals or items in the cafeteria, gift shop or pharmacy are just some of the technologically integrated system in the said hospital. The public (such as the patients) and the medical professionals working in and out of this kind of hospital have already felt the impact of being with the "100's Most Wired Hospital."

Positive Impacts of being "100's Most Wired Hospital"

On Medical Errors

There are a number of positive impacts in becoming one of the most wired hospitals. First is the efficacy of the services of the nurses, physicians and the even the administrators of the hospital.

With the advent of information technology that is used in the hospitals, the frequency of medical errors lessened. Medical error is defined as "the failure to complete a planned action as intended or the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim" (http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/errback.htm,2006). Most people believe that medical errors usually involve drugs, such as a patient getting the wrong prescription or dosage, or mishandled surgeries, such as amputation of the wrong limb. But aside from this alone, there are number of types of medical errors (http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/errback.htm,2006):

Diagnostic error, such as misdiagnosis leading to an incorrect choice of therapy, failure to use an indicated diagnostic test, misinterpretation of test results, and failure to act on abnormal results.

Equipment failure, such as defibrillators with dead batteries or intravenous pumps whose valves are easily dislodged or bumped, causing increased doses of medication over too short a period.

Infections, such as nosocomial and post-surgical wound infections.

Blood transfusion-related injuries, such as giving a patient the blood of the incorrect type.

Misinterpretation of other medical orders, such as failing to give a patient a salt-free meal, as ordered by a physician.

The have been reports indicating that as many as 44,000 to 98,000 people die in hospitals each year as the result of medical errors.

About 7,000 people per year are estimated to die from medication errors alone -- about 16% more deaths than the number attributable to work-related injuries (http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/errback.htm,2006).

Errors occur not only in hospitals but in other health care settings, such as physicians' offices, nursing homes, pharmacies, urgent care centers, and even care delivered in the home. Medical errors carry a high financial cost. In fact, medical errors cost approximately $37.6 billion each year; about $17 billion of those costs are associated with preventable errors. About half of the expenditures for preventable medical errors are for direct health care costs (http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/errback.htm,2006).

When hospitals and other healthcare settings adopted the information technology systems, a significant reduction of the number of deaths and injuries caused by medical errors was achieved (http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/errback.htm,2006). Some hospitals, medical groups, and other health care organizations have installed computer systems to manage patient information.

Regular use of electronic health records gave health care providers and patients with immediate access to complete patient information as well as tools to guide decision-making and help prevent errors (http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/errback.htm,2006).

Indeed, combining information technology and healthcare service proves to be beneficial to the healthcare system itself, to the patients and to the medical practitioners. Quality of care and patient safety has been linked to the advent of it related applications. Proofs are enough to show that the use of it integrated systems in the hospitals has significantly reduced a number of serious medication errors (Bates et al. 1998).

On Public Trust

Continuously decreasing medical errors consequently increases the public trust to the hospital and to the physicians within that hospital. It should be noted that the number of medical errors in each and every hospital will reach the awareness of the public. This in turn create confusion and even fear among the public and/.or the patients on which hospitals to go into or who among the doctors and nurses to trust with.

The public are also informed about the minimal to zero results of medical errors of the most 'wired hospitals'. This of course encourages the patients and the entire public to see and visit the hospital and entrust their health conditions with the doctors and nurses of the said hospital. Ultimately, the patients have lesser worries about their medical conditions for they believe that they have entrusted their lives with the right institutions and to the right medical practitioners.

Other perceptions of becoming among the most 'wired' hospitals include:

Thinking about business and/or income, information technology presents a better image to clients (http://www.cica.org.uk/bre-cica_survey/ranking_of_it_benefits.htm,2006).

Not all hospitals can finance and manage highly-technological systems. Hence, being able to maintain one can greatly attract more number of patients' attention. Even the highly noted physicians, nurses, midwives etc., would also want to work and get connected with such kind of hospital. Good and infamous medical practitioners working in a hospital with upgraded information technology systems is definitely a good way of establishing a better image for the hospital.

It guarantees better quality product/service (http://www.cica.org.uk/bre-cica_survey/ranking_of_it_benefits.htm,2006).

Fast and accurate service of the hospital administrators and medical practitioners working in the hospital are just some of the expectations of the hospital is among the 'most wired' hospitals. These are just natural for integrating it in the hospital system is aimed at providing better patient care at the right time and at the exact right manner.

The people inside the hospital think that it in the hospitals offers a more effective means of external and internal communication (http://www.cica.org.uk/bre-cica_survey/ranking_of_it_benefits.htm,2006).

Communication among the employees, doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, surgeons, etc. is hard to maintain particularly in a busy environment such as the hospital. Everybody seems to be working 24/7. Everybody is always on call and on the go. But however busy the hospital is, communication among all the people involved in the day-to-day function of the hospital is a must. With the right gadgets and upgraded systems inside the hospital and among the personnel, communication is properly maintained.

IT enhances access and sharing of information (http://www.cica.org.uk/bre-cica_survey/ranking_of_it_benefits.htm,2006).

Everything is stored in a database. In just one click of a finger, and with proper access ID, all pertinent information regarding the patient, the healthcare management system among others can easily be downloaded and served as basis for further treatment and/or analysis.

Medical practitioners feel that it can increase efficiency of task performance. It ensures efficient cycling of information, better integration of information and tasks, reduction in the number of errors and improvement in the management control (http://www.cica.org.uk/bre-cica_survey/ranking_of_it_benefits.htm,2006).

This is because with an advanced system, analysis/design evaluation, exploration of alternatives, information control is also improved. Moreover, imposing order and implementing standards is easily done through the combination of it and hospital management (http://www.cica.org.uk/bre-cica_survey/ranking_of_it_benefits.htm,2006).

Negative Impacts of being "100's Most Wired Hospital"

On Administrators' and Medical Practitioners' Compliance

It must be noted that being 'wired' would mean that the administrators and the medical professionals (such as the nurses, the physicians, etc.) needs to equip themselves with the technology. They had to attend seminars and workshops to be trained. They had to study on their extra… READ MORE

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