Hcs 320 Communication And Information Technology Research Paper

Communication and Information Technology Paper
Alyson Lenoir
HCS/320
February 19, 2013
Mrs. Nina Manning

Communication and Information Technology Paper Information technology and communication shows and strong interest in the health care industry. A technology improvement centralizes communication, administrative processes, and enhances the quality of care that is provided to patients. Medical professionals depend on cutting- edge technology to promote communication so that they may work collectively as a team. Effective communication is a crucial part of everyone’s lives, but not so much as when we are seeing a doctor. Effective communication in healthcare is important for right diagnosis, correct care, useful treatment, legal
processes, and medical progress. Electronic medical records were born, thanks to information technology. Electronic Medical Records systems let doctors keep up with electronic patient files, which makes keeping up with the patients medical records easier, it helps keep the information more organized and minimizes medical errors that are often caused by poor handwriting. Doctors can also email sections of a patient’s medical chart to a specialist or to a hospitals so that the impatient physicians knows the type of medications the patient is taking currently (Sheahan, 2011). Prescription technology plays an important part in healthcare communication. It lets physicians and pharmacies communicate with each other virtually. Doctors can send a prescription to the pharmacy right from their computers for patients. This relieves the patients from having to bring their prescriptions to the pharmacy in person. According to the National ePrescribing Patient Safety Initiative website electronic prescriptions helps reduces medications errors. Effective communication in healthcare is very important in helping pinpoint a diagnosis of one’s condition.
Both the physician and the patient should be very clear on what they say to one another is very important. Sometimes the patient can be unclear, uncertain or restricted information that is provided regarding one’s symptoms and experiences from the past, the diagnosis the physician’s gives may be inaccurate, leading to mistreatment of the condition. In order to obtain effective communication in the health care, one needs to learn how to speak with patients, families, care givers, consultants, and referring physicians. It is important to the care of the patient that the doctor develops a plan to communicate with anyone who plays a role in the patient’s well-being. Talking one-on-one with the patient is also very important, not only with the first encounter, also through the treatment and care phases. Doctors, nurses, technicians, and counselors all should communicate with each other to help cut down on
miscommunication. Health care technology is becoming popular everyday.
Technology is being used in doctors’ offices, clinics, dental offices, and hospitals. This new technology keeps the doctors’ connected to hospitals, specialists to primary care physicians, and pharmacies to doctors. Although it is not being used everywhere, and the areas where technology is being used provides some serious advancements to health care providers and patients alike. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration web site on Health Information Technology, one of the main advantages of health information technology (HIT) is that it instantly makes ones health information available to anyone who needs it (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). With the help of health information technology there has been a decrease in duplicate test ordered by physicians. Another perspective of HIT is that all of the patient’s information can be entered into a system and all of their doctors can have access to the information. When health care information is more coordinated and there are less repeats of testing and treatments, health expenses are less. Doctors’ offices, clinics, and hospitals have realized a compelling cost savings through the use of health information technology, due to how information is managed. The health care business has seen many changes and has developed over the years and this trend will continue because of advances in pharmaceutical products and technology (Christ,
2012). In conclusion, Information technology progression are infiltrating the health care business, making things function and the delivery of patient care, more accomplished and productive. Information technology has different applications available to benefit the medical field. This up-to-date health care system is designed to manage a large amount of information about millions of people. With the help of modern health technology the health care business can provide better care to its patients.
References
Christ, S. (2012, March). Health Care Future Technology and Trends. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com
National ePrscribing Patient Safety Initative. (2008, May). Retrieved from http://www.nationalerx.com/about-us
Sheahan, K. (2011, September). Technology in Healthcare Communication. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2013, January). Health Information Technology and Quality Improvement. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov