History of health informatics case study examples

Question 1

Health informatics came it to existence after the growing need to address the need to apply new tools in healthcare for better services. According to Bemmel and Shortliffe (1986), it began in 1970s as Medical and Nursing Informatics. The growth of health informatics field is very rapid with the advent of cheap hardware and more powerful software applications. Health informatics was used for electronic data processing in health facilities.
There more advancement in information technology has led to more complex informatics systems being used in medical diagnosis. Decision making in healthcare is now enhanced by the use of computer systems, artificial intelligence and database technology as early as 1980s. Health Informatics was at adopting technologies into health care services. Radiological imaging is one of the technological applications in medical care. Health Informatics is aimed at improving health care services.
Informatics is also used in systems management. The health systems are used for communication and sharing of data. Information retrieval is another role of informatics health in healthcare. Patients and physicians can now retrieve information from the internet about health related issues. There are large databases of medicine with journals and articles dating back in the early days. There are medical records and research findings on different diseases. Informatics has enabled physicians to detect medical illness that could otherwise be difficult to detect. The use on non-invasive methods to treat patients is also part of the technological advancement in medical field.
Q2

Organization selected and what it does

The organization selected is Johns Hopkins Medicine. The headquarters is in Washington D. C with a series of hospitals in many other states in the US. Is a medical institution with a school of medicine which was established in 1989. It is a centre for conducting research, teaching and patient care. This hospital has many health systems that it has integrated into its services.

Types of services

The organization has a medical school that offers teaching and research in the medical care. There are hospital facilities that it offers health care services to patients.

Why it was selected

This organization was selected because it has strived to achieve the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which emphasises on the use of technology or Health informatics into the healthcare system. This organization has won several awards in health care provision. In January 2013, Johns Hopkins Healthcare was awarded as the innovator of the year. This award was because of the effort by the information technology and systems department of the hospital in the implementation of automatic log out of the workstations by just tapping.

Q 3 organization selected for SLP

John Hopkins Health Systems (JHHS) is part of the John Hopkins hospital which is a health care facility aimed at offering quality healthcare services to patients. Johns Hopkins has implemented informatics systems in the hospitals for a long time. They have been upgrading the health systems. The EPIC has integrated several services such as prescribing, clinical documentation, computerized order entry, and charge capture.

Services it offers

JHHS is academic oriented health care systems which are made of the following; the John Hopkins Hospital which is globally known for its best health care services and best medical school. The hospital has best tertiary and quaternary care. Bayview medical centre is a community base teaching hospital centre that offers both out and inpatient services and even long term care. Howard county General Hospital is also parts of the John Hopkins Hospital facility those health care services in Montgomery County since 1943. Other health delivery systems of John Hopkins Hospital are the Johns Hopkins Medical Management Corporation. It is mandated with management of healthcare and organizational services. It also manages and organizes patient delivery systems in the region to serve Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Patient management has improved since the implementation of the patient management systems. There are many advantages of the informatics such as online prescription of medicine, online booking of the appointment and online payment of the services. The negative side is that services offered by nurses and other support staffs are now being automated hence many people in the hospital are losing jobs. There is increased medical fee because of using informatics systems. Informatics systems initial cost and cost of maintaining them is passed onto consumers. This means that there are going to be additional cost on patient treatment (Cesnik, 1996).

Work cited

Cesnik, B. R. A. N. K. O. (1996). History of health informatics. Health Informatics: An Overview.
Wennberg, J., & Gittelsohn, A. (1973). Small Area Variations in Health Care Delivery A population-based health information system can guide planning and regulatory decision-making. Science, 182(4117), 1102-1108.