Information flow systems in healthcare and industry

Discuss about the IOT in Healthcare for Toyota and Ford Motors.

Health care systems can be defined as organized arrangements planned to meet needs that will ensure the wellbeing of an intended population. There are a number of healthcare systems within a nationality that may include the occupational safety and health, military medicine and school health services among many others.  The healthcare systems have identified a number of goals to meet to ensure the health concerns of the population are met. Health systems seek to ensure good health among the people, to help the people to have a fair system of contributing their finances towards the system, and to increase the rate of responsiveness in order to meet the expectations of the beneficiaries of the system. To meet this goal, therefore, the quality of service provided, the efficacy of the provision of these services, their acceptability among the people and their equity in dealing with the target population must be on the forefront of all the health systems (Alsabah, 2010).

For that purpose, the information flow systems have been introduced in the industries. The information flow systems include the many faces of the organizations of the many processes that go on in the industries. The greatest example we have is the supply chain management system that is being utilized by many major manufacturers including Toyota and ford motors. This system helps in the constant connections between the suppliers and the manufacturers for the better systematic process of the supplying and buying (Bhatt, Dey, & Ashour, 2017).

This industry also includes the healthcare industry. In this case, the basic requirement is the maintenance of the records of the thousands of the patients. In the past, decades ago, this maintenance was being done by the files and the traditional systems. The data of the patients includes their vitals and their medical histories. This type of data needs constant up gradation. Traditionally for the up gradation, the hustle of the files and the papers had to be dealt with.  

With the introduction of the new information flow systems, which in the case of the health industry is known as the electronic patient record, we see that the patient record maintenance has become more and more convenient with the passing time (Bliss, 2010).

There are some specifications that have to be met when the clinical data related to the patients has to be used. The specifications have been identified and they include that the medical data should be should be related to the individual patient and it should be able to help the medical healthcare provider to decide what treatment or therapy has to be given to the patient (Boslaugh, 2013).

Electronic patient records

The medical data that is related to the patients is organized in the same form as it is done in the paper format however in a better manner. This helps the medical practitioner make and design the patients’ clinical history leading to the therapy decisions. The EPR help the physicians in constantly updating their gained information with regards to the patients during the consultation process within no time. In addition to this, the medical practitioners can have suggestions from the other experts online by exchanging the medical information and the messages with the doctors (Colling & York, 2010).

It has been seen that the software that has been designed for the creation of the patient’s records, has been made in such a way that the doctors can exchange the data among themselves. Therefore constant exchange of the information related to the patients also takes place between t eh doctors helping the medical health care providers to innovate in the ways they treat the patients.

The electronic patient’s record systems have been basically developed for the batter management and the administration that is needed in the healthcare facilities. These days the EPRs are being widely used in the western counties. The use of the EPRs is growing in the smaller clinical facilities however it has been seen that the EPRs have been difficult to incorporate in the larger healthcare facilities. The EPRs that are designed incorporating the small amount of information that is given to them. As we can see that the industries especially the healthcare facilities are the linked that are growing on the daily basis, therefore, the amount if the information that is needed to be stored is also increasing on the daily basis. With the amount, the nature of the complexity of the information is also increasing. This complexity has to be welcomed by the EPR systems that are used by the healthcare facilities these days (Coulter, 2011).

Interoperability refers to the ability of various applications used to communicate and transfer information in healthcare management. The main communication channel is between health information systems and the software applications. Strategies should be developed so as to ensure efficient and timely data transmission between healthcare applications. Also, strategies should be made in order to replace old and incompatible equipment with modern ones and active personnel training on the use of interoperability equipment. Healthcare institutions should also ensure that there are proper coordination and cooperation between the various departments (Davis & LaCour, 2014)

Literature review

Strategies must also be made to institutionalize healthcare systems, which assist in planning among data transmitting departments while encouraging the growth of flexible architectural interoperability structures. The management in healthcare facilities must also fund actively the projects set up to ensure and give solutions to interoperability. Competence is another aspect that is key to healthcare. For a competence to be considered core, it must have a wide breadth of application and be highly relevant to the end user, as well as maintain distinction and difficult to imitate. For the healthcare sector, IT has five core competencies that make it suitable for adoption. One is that IT departments help in business analysis. When data is fed into IT applications, they can process it for the success of expected results such as analysis of patient recovery rates. The second core competency for IT department is Innovation. Innovation will come in handy in healthcare departments due to the rapid changes in technology (Gabow & Goodman, 2015).

The third is knowledge management, which can be used to improve the knowledge work systems in other health departments. Fourth competence for IT department in health care is solution web management. This is the ability of IT to provide web-based solutions to healthcare problems. Such include online prescription and consultation. Lastly, IT departments help in change management, especially where new projects are being implemented. This is necessary in health care as in order to ensure efficiency in service delivery, new systems and equipment are being introduced (Glandon, Smaltz, & Slovensky, 2014).

The key players in the implementation of an IT strategy in a healthcare situation are also the stake brokers. One of them is the patients. Patients are the target group for which solutions are designed for. Next player is the hospitals. These give the setting for implantation of the strategies, as patients, doctors, and other stake brokers all meet at the hospital. Another player is the government. The government usually regulates the running of healthcare institutions while at the same time ensuring that funding is available. The government also funds for research and other strategic management processes in the healthcare sector. Another player is the insurers. In current times, insurance has become a core requirement in health care and any strategy must take into consideration the recommendations by the insurers (Harsh, 2017). Other players are casuals and other employees in healthcare facilities and all other professionals who play a role in health care.

Interoperability and IT in healthcare

In order to achieve quality and reliable health care, the following principles should be considered. One is affordability such that patients can afford to pay for healthcare. The government should subsidize the cost of health care, as well as set up laws on this course. IT can be used to minimize the cost of healthcare by reducing costs of bookkeeping and hospital visits. Next principle is security or privacy of patient information.

The doctor-patient confidentiality must be guarded at all cost and IT can be used in the encryption of various files so as to avoid unauthorized access. Another principle is reliability such that no medical errors arise. This is extremely valuable as many patients die due to errors in medication. With IT, the records are clear and maintained in a conventional way such that errors are minimized. Next is accessibility to health care facilities and practitioners. Patients must have ease accessing their physicians, which can be made possible with IT through E-consultation and E-prescription (In Jeyanthi & In Thandeeswaran, 2017).

A six sigma is a methodology that is used in the design and implementation of a solution design. The first step is to set out goals consistent with the health care scenario or problem to be solved, which should be in line customer’s needs. The second step is to evaluate the “characteristics that are critical to quality” of the healthcare scenario. At this steps, the risks liked to be faced are analyzed and the capacity of the new project towards the set goals. The third step involves the analysis of the available alternatives and the selection of the best design for the healthcare scenario. Once an alternative is selected, the next step is to develop it and test it on the expected set objectives. If all requirements have been met, the last step involves the implementation of the design in the healthcare scenario (In Reis & In Silva, 2017).

Patient outcomes determine the overall success of quality health care programs. This is so because the programs are mainly designed to address a patient problem; thus, depending on the outcome a health care program can be assessed for quality. Information needed to evaluate and analyze patient outcomes includes gender, age, and location. This evaluates the outcome in terms of either female or male, young or old and the geographical distribution.

Statistical procedures can be used to analyze outcomes in terms of percentages, and this is compared to the objectives to see if the healthcare program is successful. Information systems including computer applications such as Microsoft Excel can be used to analyze the data (In Tripathy & In Anuradha, 2018).

Core competencies of IT departments

There are many concerns especially when it comes to the use of the electronic patient record. However, the main concerns are the ones that are being highlighted here. One of the main concerns is that as we know the electronic patient records can be easily interchanged and exchanged between the health care providers so it is important that the confidentiality level of the records is to be kept safe. The other important concern is that there are some limitations in the use of the EPRs, which do not integrate the detailed information in their systems. This may be a lack of the medical health care provider’s performance. So for better service, the medical health care professional should make sure that the written medical data related to the patients is also saved so that it is consulted when needed to get more and more details that might have been recorded during the consultation (Keramidas, Voros, & Hübner, 2017).

There are many challenges that are faced in the implementation of strategies, especially in the healthcare sector. Chief among them is cost. Some strategies are extremely expensive to implement, and funding may be inadequate. This is magnified by a lack of will by management, to implement the decision hence they withhold funding. Another challenge is the end user resistance to strategies that implement change. IT is especially feared by replacing human resource hence practitioners may resist such a strategy from being implemented. The third challenge is that a new strategy may pose real challenges to patients who might not have IT knowledge. This is one of the biggest challenges in healthcare strategies (Kumar, 2017).

In order to ensure successful implantation of a strategy, a comprehensive research and analysis must be carried out to ensure relevance. Second is that all stakeholders must be involved in the development of the strategy. This, in turn, reduces the change of end user resistance while training ensures that patients can benefit from the strategy optimally. Therefore, for a successful implantation, all considerations, legal, social, economic, political, and cultural must be put into consideration (Lai, 2016).

The electronic medical records contain the medical codes that are different for the consultation, different for the diagnosis and that is different for the kind of the treatment that the patient gets. So the doctors can recall the whole history of what the patients have and how he was treated by referring to the codes that are entered into the software system.

Stakeholders in healthcare IT implementation

In addition, we see that the EPRs are being only used by the smaller medical facilities. There have been some difficulties in using the information related systems in the larger systems. This has to change in some manner. The capabilities of the EPRs systems have to be upgraded and appreciated in many ways possible, they can be very helpful when they are used in the large healthcare facilities (Lee, 2014).

If they are used in the larger healthcare facilities than the exchange of the information that occurs between the medical health care professional can take place easily within the boundaries of that medical facility.  In this manner, the concern that has been there about the secrecy and the integrate y of the medical data related to the patient can be saved.

In addition to this, the EPR can be given the chance to perform in the better manner and on the larger scale. It can be said in this regard that if the EPRs are used on the larger scale than the administrative system s can be incorporated in the EPR as well which give the medical healthcare professional the administrative hold that is generally required (Marks, 2010).

The EPR is general y restricted within the hospital facility. If the EPR are made to be mobile and to be online at the same time than the doctors can be providing the service even when they are on the go.  Thus giving the patients their therapies and the treatments even when the doctor so out of the city.

This mobile version of the EPR can also help the patient be in constant touch with the relative health care professional for any further advice that might be needed in this case. This integration of the information system helps the health care providers give the proper and fast and best quality medical service to the patients without any delay. This integration can be a proper revolution in the healthcare industry. Therefore the need that we see here is to upgrade the ways in which the electronic medical records of the patients are being used in the healthcare facilities these days (Mathar, 2010).

Therefore we can see that by the use of the electronic patient record that helps in the flow of the information, the health care providers are not only maintai8ning the data of the patients but also they are keeping in constant touch with the other practitioners updating the knowledge. This system helps the doctor maintaining their data, to be updated constantly which hardly takes there time as well.

Principles for achieving quality healthcare

To sum up all this we can say that the electronic patient’s records also helps the doctors in making their decisions with regards to the therapy and the treatment of the patient. This helps the medical health professionals in improving their services that are being provided to the patients. In those can help the practitioner in anyways (Menachemi & Singh, 2012).

If the better information flow systems are used for the data maintenance than the level of the services that are being provided by the health care providers can be improved thus helping they increase in their provided service levels.

One of the main benefits of introducing IT is the reduction of costs in health care. This is achieved through reduced costs of regular bookkeeping with the shift from physical filling to electronic record keeping. The next benefit is the improved flow of data and information with strict adherence to privacy. This will help in significantly reducing the instances of duplicative tests (Minson, 2014).

Another benefit is that patients can reduce their hospital visits through the use of E-consultation and prescription while at the same time ensuring their records are outdated accordingly. Another benefit is the completeness and accuracy of data in the healthcare systems. This data can also be effectively sorted and analyzed electronically giving rise to efficiency. Another benefit is the ease of access by a physician to patient’s records, and since it is electronic, medical errors due to poor handwriting are minimized. Lastly is that the data can be pooled together in aiding research on various health care issues and analyzed using scientific statistical methods to ensure fast response to health care challenges (Shaw, 2010).

Many benefits accrue for using Electronic Health Records, one being that the decision-making process in health care is now based on quality, reliable and sufficient information. Next involves the development of better documentation policies and safety in health care without a risk of medical errors. Another benefit is on the cost of maintaining and retrieving medical records (Zois, 2016).

A healthcare may decide to acquire their IT equipment from one vendor or pick the best of equipment from different vendors. The advantages for a single vendor include the following. One is reliability as all data is transmitted on the same platform. Second is the ease of workflow management and reliability of the vendor to solve problems with the system. On the other hand, best of the breed has the following advantages. One is that the health care can acquire the best systems for each function and that updates can be made of the only system without affecting the others (Wendel, Serratt, & O’Donohue, 2018).

Computerized physician order entry is a system where a physician communicates his prescription over a network to the medical practitioners about a hospitalized patient. The advantages are that the physician orders are standard and to all responsible departments which ensure increased response time. The Second benefit is that the system is patient-centered, and all the necessary medical history of a patient is attached. The third benefit is that the system is secured, and only authorized personnel can access it.

The disadvantages for single vendor systems are that upgrades for one system necessitate the upgrade of other systems. Two is that the over-reliance on one vendor can be costly especially where they do not respond in time. As for the best of the breed, the main disadvantage is that the systems may not be compatible; hence, creating a workflow problem. Also, problem identification is hard due to multiple different platforms (Wendel, O’Donohue, & Serratt, 2017).

The challenges arise due to the complex systems that exist in the healthcare sector. Fragmentation is a hindrance to electronic health recording. Another challenge is the existence of many regulations in the healthcare sector that hinder transformation. Also, the expected capital input in investing in an electronic health recording presents a challenge to small enterprises.

The disadvantages of CPOE are that it comes with many risks of errors. If the staff is not well conversant with the system, it might feed in wrong information, which is carried down to all departments. CPOE has been identified to be responsible for almost 80% of errors in medical records. The main challenge experienced with CPOE is that it is quite costly and may take several years to implement and manage. CPOE has also experienced stiff resistance by physicians, making its implementation a complex affair (York & MacAlister, 2015).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the use of IoT in healthcare grows every day as new challenges present themselves and as technology advancements take place each day. The health of the people within a given nationality has always been one of the priorities of the governments across the world. A healthy nation means that the people will manage to work and create more wealth for the nation, killer diseases will be controlled, children will have the hope to see their adulthood and the sick will get proper medical care for their condition that will assist them to get their health status back and contribute to nation building. This has in most countries become the driving force behind the adoption of systems that will ensure the population within them manage to meet their medical needs.

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