Technology is rapidly changing the healthcare sector, saving many lives while still reducing operational costs. Before technology took over information storage roles, healthcare professionals were forced to deal with clunky paper files that contained patent information. Most of the files could not serve more than a year because they were lost, damaged, or misinterpreted. Feeding patient information to computers saves on time, assisting healthcare professionals in tracking records easily, providing better integration with pharmacy records, test results, and X-rays (Alotaibi & Federico, 2017). Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) provides tighter security for patient data compared to files, which could be easily compromised.
The integration of tele-health and online appointments is a crucial aspect when one considers the tremendous impact that technology has contributed to healthcare. It has eased congestion in hospitals, since patients can make an appointment from the comfort of their homes (Alotaibi & Federico, 2017). The core purpose of HIT is ensuring that patients receive better care and all health organizations achieve health equity.
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Patient safety as highlighted in the post entails avoidance, prevention, and elimination of adverse outcomes or injuries that arise from processes of healthcare. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) report of 1999 “To Err is Human” emphasized that healthcare professionals must identify new technologies that help in reducing medical errors that pose a threat to patients’ lives (Alotaibi & Federico, 2017). Information Technology is the first major step that the Healthcare has taken to actualizing this goal. The Triage charting is an impressive way of ensuring doctors is adequately informed on patients’ medications.
HIT ensures that institutions keep track on the medical qualifications of all healthcare professionals. Hospitals improve on legibility; reduce errors and fast dispensation of drugs. Medication Administration Records (eMAR) provide a legal record of all drugs administered to a particular patient (Oliveros, Caro, & Menendez-Conde, 2017). The use of eMAR software reduces the risk of wrong prescriptions and prevents healthcare professionals from slipping drugs from the hospital since all medication is tracked and connected using barcode technology.
References
Alotaibi, Y., & Federico, F. (2017). The impact of health information technology on patient safety. Saudi Medical Journal, 1173–1180. doi:10.15537/smj.2017.12.20631
Oliveros, V., Caro, G., & Menendez-Conde, P. (2017). Effect of an electronic medication administration record application on patient safety. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice , 888-894. doi:10.1111/jep.12753
