IT and Healthcare
Currently, computers are being used in all aspect of life be it businesses, education, government administration and healthcare has not been left behind. In healthcare, the inclusion of computers has taken several years to be where it is today. This process begun in early 1970 and it has passed through stages. This essay will look into the different milestones and different persons that contributed to the growth of the use of computers in healthcare.
Use of computer timeline from 1960s to 2000
In the 1960s, the use of computers in healthcare was something that was still being planned upon. It was predicted that the utilization of computers in healthcare would improve on decision making. This included also reduced errors by medical practitioners. This would definitely save on time wastage on decision making but unfortunately, the machines proved to be so expensive and very few medical practitioners could operate them.
In 1965, there was a requirement for all nurses to provide data as it reached them from the health department of the US. In 1965, pathology language was systemized by the American collage of pathology and in 1969, the Uniform minimum health data set was therefore introduced , (UMHDS).
In 1970, Dr. Lawrence Weed of the University of Medial center introduced the Problem Oriented Medical Information System (PROMIS). This system was meant to be inclusive of all aspect of medical data including patient treatment data. In 1976, medical terms were included in the system and electronic records, Electronic Health Records (EHR),was what the main purpose of the system. This shifted SNOP; Systemized Nomenclature of Pathology to SNOMED; Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine.
The arrival of the Apple 2 then followed in the 1977 which was able to display colored graphics and it also came along with an advanced programming language as a package. This period of the 1970s was marked by hospital IS which used online communication technologies that made it easy to access medical data bases (mThink, 2003) .
In the 1980s, computer networking paved its way in the medical field whereby protocol for data exchange in healthcare, Health Level 7 (HL7), was adapted. These enabled medical practitioners to easily exchange all information including financial or administrative. In 1982, there was the emergence of medical conferences and most recognized among them are the Medical Informatics Association Working Conference in and another in 1985 called the International Nursing Informatics Conference.
These two conferences are currently held once in every three years. In 1987, the American Nurses Association; ANA House of Delegates approved the classification of nursing practice and categories here included outcome, diagnosis and interventions (Park , Murray, & Delaney, 2006).
In 1992, Nursing Informatics was made a specialty of learning by the ANA. In the same year, there was the Nursing Outcomes Classification System (NOC), which is in use even today. In the University of Virginia, the patient care data set was introduced which also is in use even today. In 1995, Personal Digital Assistants begun to be used in hospitals and a Nightingale Tracker was introduced for nurses. This device was meant to enable communication between nurses and officers when they were in different geographical areas.
In 2000, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) were passed followed by rules concerning the same in 2002. In 2003, the Medicare Modernization Act was affected and this act required that pharmacists should adapt the e-prescription for accuracy. In 2004, David Brailer was appointed as the coordinator of National Health information Technology by the then American President George Bush.
Health Information Technology Standards Panel was established in 2005. Still in 2005, a commission of systemic Interoperability required that all Americans be provided with medical history and this definitely called for computerized data. In 2006, the Markel foundation created an environment that allowed for sharing and accessing information by healthcare providers. In February 2009, the Health information Technology For Economic and Clinical Health Act, (HITECH) was passed.
Current data of 2009 showed that about 80% of the hospitals had adopted the EHR this shows that data thereafter could rank up to 90%. According to Institute for health head, this transformation has brought efficiency in healthcare and it shows a great transformation in the coming years. By 2012, it was observed that remote monitoring had taken roots especially on the patient’s side.
This was widely accepted as it resulted to reduced travelling costs. Patient’s health could therefore be monitored from the comfort of their homes. In December 2013,Dr. Karen DeSalvo was appointed as the coordinator of health IT. With reference to Ambinder, (2005), It is foreseen that by 2019, mhealth will have spread where people will be using their smart phones to be informed on new health information. This is expected to benefit both patients and doctors. Healthcare websites which are on the increase are also another advancement that is currently taking root and they have links that provide useful information that patients look for.
The change in the HIM role with the change in computer technology
The Health Information managers are tasked with the role of ensuring that the right and accurate information is available to all stakeholders to improve on decision making. Initially, these HIM professionals were the custodians of medical data but their roles have changed with the new technology to include IT supporters. This however does not mean that they are technically able to solve or data related challenges or provide training but rather manage the data for the healthcare line.
The roles of HIM managers have also changes to include their association with the HIT managers where they are now partnering together in the electronic support of medical data. There is hope that the convergence of HIM and HIT will cause effectiveness in terms of cost. Due to the expanded healthcare unit, the HIM has also been tasked with ensuring privacy of data.
According to Weaver, et al, (2016), HIM professionals are also currently involved in management of HIEs . These professionals are also expected to change the healthcare code ICD from 9 to 10. There has been a challenge with the new roles of HIM especially with the security issues but a way out to this issue is that they make their actions law compliant ( Zeng, Reynolds, & Sharp, 2009).
Conclusion
As computers developed through the five generations, their use in healthcare advanced. This has shifted from accurate data storage and retrieval, through disease control and patient physician interval. The use of computers in technology has however come with privacy issues and the hardships of differentiating real medical advice online from scam. However, there is a foreseen bright future in the use of computers in technology and the rate with which pharmacists and other healthcare providers are using computers are embracing new technologies.
References
Ambinder, E. P. (2005). A history of the shift toward full computerization of medicine. Journal of Oncology Practice, 1(2), 54-56. Retrieved on 12 September 2016 from http://jop.ascopubs.org/content/1/2/54.full
mThink,. (2003). Health Care Technology: A History of Clinical Care Innovation – mThink. mThink. Retrieved 12 September 2016, from http://mthink.com/article/health-care- technology-history-clinical-care-innovation/
Park., Murray, P. & Delaney, C. (2006). Consumer-Centered Computer-Supported Care for Healthy People : Proceedings of NI2006, [Seoul], the 9th International Congress on Nursing Informatics. Amsterdam Washington, D.C: IOS Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=4eNX9BpVHK4C&pg=PA248&dq=use+of+comput er+in+health+timeline&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=HEALTH&f=false
Weaver, C., Ball, M., Kim, G. & Kiel, J. (2016). Healthcare information management systems : cases, strategies, and solutions. Cham: Springer.https://books.google.com/books?id=ZhGcCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA158&dq=use+of +computer+in+health+timeline&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=use%20of% 20computer%20in%20health%20timeline&f=false
Zeng, X., Reynolds, R., & Sharp, M. (2009). Redefining the roles of health information management professionals in health information technology. Retrieved on 12 September 2016 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2781729/