- Published: October 11, 2022
- Updated: October 11, 2022
- University / College: University of Canberra
- Level: Masters
- Language: English
- Downloads: 16
Running Head: CIO SURVEY RESULTS Discussion about CIO Survey Results Q1. Health Management Information System industry is that which deals with providing assistance in management and planning of health care programs. Planning requires assessment or evaluation of the current trends in the market, or in the health care industry. The survey is therefore very important. It provides information about future information system trends and what the professionals think; which is very important for planning and managing health care information systems (WHO, 2004).
Q2.
The survey results show that the trend towards more investment in information technology is to improve access to information for clinicians. Hardware investment would therefore be on data storage and data dissemination hardware like servers.
The actual results: Those who work at integrated delivery system or hospitals have back up/disaster recovery hardware, as their top priority (20%), followed by servers (18%), and lastly, laptops/tablets/PDAs (9%). Those who work at a clinical group practice have laptops/tablets/PDAs as their top priority (19%), followed by servers (12%), then Desktop PCs (6%) (Health Data Management, 2011)
The reason for the above choices could be; integrated delivery system and hospitals store a lot of information about patients, and requests about patient history and hospital programs are sent to them. They advocate for backup/disaster recovery because they are the main source of information, and management of the health management information system. Servers as a second priority, is because they need to improve the flow of information to doctors and medical staff.
Those involved in clinic or group practice have laptops/tablets/PCs as their priority, because they can easily access information through these devices from hospital and integrated delivery system databases. They also need servers for easy access to information and dissemination of such information to relevant departments for improved service delivery. The reason for the difference in their choices is unknown, but could be because of the differences in the number of patients, and programs the institutions handle, as explained below (number 4).
Q3.
Before EHR, there was paper based model of recording medical data. The transition from this model has opened up very many opportunities. EHR enables sharing of knowledge, skills and competencies. It makes it possible for practitioners of HIM to carry out public health officer, data translator, and patient advocate roles. The systems maintain high integrity levels and also improve the safety and quality of patient care. This ensures efficiency in the health care delivery system (AHIMA, 2004).
Other benefits of EHR that makes it a priority for CIOs are;
It allows documentation of physician-patient, or staff-patient interactions.
It allows electronic requests to the pharmacies reducing errors due to handwritten prescriptions
It provides easy access to insurance and medical histories information
It allows medical staff and physicians to order laboratory tests, make referrals and view test results.
It also provides a decision support system for physicians and medical staff (Palo Alto Medical Foundation, 2011).
Q4.
The reasons for less concern could be due to certain assumptions like: the clinics and group practice deal with a few patients that they may know, and can easily contact the patients and get back such information; the clinics and group practices are smaller than hospitals and deal with less risky cases, disaster (which is considered highly risky) therefore is not one of the problems; they deal with very few patients and so have very little information to lose; and they deal with less risky cases compared to hospitals and so find it less important to place backup/recovery hardware as a first priority. This is not sensible in medical practice because every information about a patient (however little or vague it may be) is very important.
List of References
American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). (2004). The Strategic
Importance of Electronic Health Records Management. Journal of AHIMA 79 (9): 1-30. Retrieved on 13th December 2011 from:
http://www. providersedge. com/ehdocs/ehr_articles/The_Strategic_Importance_of_EHRs_Management. pdf.
Health Data Management (HDM). (2011). 2008 CIO Survey Results. Retrieved on 13th
December 2011 from:
http://www. healthdatamanagement. com/CIO_Survey/
Palo Alto Medical Foundation. (2011). Benefits of EHR. Retrieved on 13th December
http://www. pamf. org/ehr/benefits/.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2004). Developing Health Management Information
Systems. A Practical Guide For Developing Countries. Retrieved on 13th December 2011 from:
http://www. wpro. who. int/NR/rdonlyres/3A34C50D-C035-425A-8155-65E8AD3CB906/0/Health_manage. pdf.