What Is Healthcare Informatics
Informatics hasn`t been new to nursing but has been broader and well defined in the past few years. New technology, software development, hardware improvements and regulations have all shaped and improved informatics. Since 2010, the Affordable Care Act has been helping the incorporation of health care informatics in patient care. According to University of Illinois at Chicago (2017), one of the main goals of the Affordable Care Act is to improve healthcare quality through the use of technology. The proposed technology varies from electronic health records to computer modeling used to track healthcare spending. The use of this technology and data to improve the health of patients and quality of care is called healthcare informatics. So, the
ACA has really helped informatics to be improved and being used by many hospitals and doctors’ offices. The main purpose is to enhance national information sharing between providers.
Also, they are mergers and acquisitions happening in informatics. According to Mobi Health News (2016), they were forty-five 2016 digital health mergers and acquisitions. 2016 ended up being a big year for acquisitions. With 45 acquisitions, that beats out 2015's total of 36, and many were from high-profile, attention-grabbing companies such as Google, Fitbit and Philips.
Development of software like EPIC has been very helpful in information sharing among the health care providers. Epic has been there since 1979 but the software has improved so much since then. This software is widely used not only in the US but in other countries too like the UK. This software is very detailed and difficult to use for first timers. This is what we use at the hospital I work for.
Hardware has also improved so much in the sense that we had mostly personal computers in the hospitals but now we have iPads and laptops that are being used in hospitals and doctors` offices. It has made it easier to get information from the patient and document it right way. All this new technology has made nursing and other health care professionals easier to take care of the patients and patient safety is always the priority.
ACA has really helped informatics to be improved and being used by many hospitals and doctors’ offices. The main purpose is to enhance national information sharing between providers.
Also, they are mergers and acquisitions happening in informatics. According to Mobi Health News (2016), they were forty-five 2016 digital health mergers and acquisitions. 2016 ended up being a big year for acquisitions. With 45 acquisitions, that beats out 2015's total of 36, and many were from high-profile, attention-grabbing companies such as Google, Fitbit and Philips.
Development of software like EPIC has been very helpful in information sharing among the health care providers. Epic has been there since 1979 but the software has improved so much since then. This software is widely used not only in the US but in other countries too like the UK. This software is very detailed and difficult to use for first timers. This is what we use at the hospital I work for.
Hardware has also improved so much in the sense that we had mostly personal computers in the hospitals but now we have iPads and laptops that are being used in hospitals and doctors` offices. It has made it easier to get information from the patient and document it right way. All this new technology has made nursing and other health care professionals easier to take care of the patients and patient safety is always the priority.