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Technology Assessment in Health Sector

The advancement of new technologies in the health sector has been on an upward trend, and more societies should embrace these new changes lest they are left far behind in the turn of service delivery. The investment into new technologies by the healthcare industry has continued to increase over the years with the aim of ensuring that the provision of services to clients is enhanced while the cost is kept at the lowest level. This essay aims to discuss the most prominent technologies required in health care, the implementation of these technologies by the providers, basic technologies in the information system within healthcare as well as the recommendation for the modification of the system and the action to be taken by the healthcare leaders.

Most Significant New Technology Requirements for the Health Care Industry

Electronic Healthcare Records (EHR) are the most significant technological requirement in the health industry. The EHR is the most convenient way of providing healthcare services to patients in the modern day. It is out of the busy schedule and the daily diet as well as the lifestyle that has made people prone to the highest number of illnesses than was the case in previous years. With the EHR, the patients will be in a position to access the best medical, and nutritional advice via handheld gadgets and this will help in advocating for the consumption of the right diet among the individuals (Blumenthal, 2010). The EHR is also crucial to the service providers since they will be in a position to have the most recent information on medication and diagnosis at their fingertip and this will save on the unnecessary, wrong prescription due to the human error that may be experienced by the health providers. The EHR will also help in the storage of the patient’s medical details, and this will make it easier for the medics to treat the patient in accordance with the previous diagnosis and medication.

Implementation of Electronic Healthcare Records by the Providers

Healthcare providers are at the center of making EHR technology a success since it revolves around what they do in their daily duties. They should come up with the best policies that should be adopted so that the information is shared in a common pool to enhance access to the rest of the population. The health providers should be given relevant technical knowledge on how to share their findings as well as knowing how to access the EHR database. For instance, in the case of Anonymous Medical Center (ANMC) found in the Midwest (Razi. Emmert. McAlpine-Austin, Tarn & Islam, 2011), many servers were connected to a central one that acted as the core of communication which allowed the addition and dissemination of the same information to the rest of the servers.

Basic Technology Underlying Health Care Information Systems

The basic technology underlying the health care information systems is computer-based patient records. This is the point upon which everyone in the health industry would seek both the cause and the diagnosis of various ailments and conditions that have already been experienced while at the same time, adding more information regarding the emerging conditions. With the widespread use of this health care information system, there is a great need to ensure that the providers are empowered by providing the relevant information to the central servers while the patients’ records are entered directly into the health center’s computer. Technological advancement has brought about the massive use of the internet among the masses, and this means that the EHR needs to be internet enabled so as to ensure that the relevant data is easily accessed when needed. It is out of the readily available internet access and the constant need for health advice among the patients that calls for the modification of the EHR. A good example is a situation in which the health provider is off duty and finds a patient with a condition that he/she has never encountered before. For him/her to help the patient, it would be very easy to access the diagnosis of the condition via EHR handheld gadget and prescribe the required medication.

Recommended Innovation to Improve Healthcare

The EHR would be highly effective if innovation of producing handheld gadgets that are beautifully designed to mimic the common objects that people use in their daily lives. This would include the designing of these gadgets into wristwatches as well as mobile phones so that it can be easier to help in the transition of health care from hospital to home to aid the aged and the poor who cannot afford the cost of going into hospital frequently. With this technology, the patient will be able to communicate with the providers in the comfort of their homes and this will benefit in the saving of energy and financial resources. This innovation will be most effective in communities like those in West Virginia where the adoption percentage of the EHR is very low (Charles, Gabriel & Searcy, 2015). This would mean that the patients will not incur a lot of cost in the traversing states in search of providers since their condition can be monitored by the medics while at home.

Key Actions to Be Cared Out By the Healthcare Leadership

The healthcare leadership in the West Virginia community has the role of promoting smooth information technology management within the healthcare industry. They should ensure that there is adequate capital to help in the purchase of the essential equipment and gadgets that are required in enhancing the use of EHR. This ought to be accompanied by effective leadership that ensures collaboration and partnership with other hospitals and health centers in a manner that health information is readily shared with a wider network (Charles et al, 2015). The healthcare leadership should also help in the formulation of the curriculum among medical students that will include EHR data management so that all the professionals will be able to enter and retrieve the relevant data.

Effects of the Technology on the Community

The EHR has plenty of benefits for both the providers and the patients in West Virginia. The providers will save on the operation cost in the long run given that the patients can also be treated while away from the hospital and this will translate to more income (Charles et al, 2015). The patients will also benefit in that they will be able to access the health services from the comfort of their homes and this means that those with low income will not incur the unnecessary cost of frequently traveling to the hospital for a checkup since this will be possible through the EHR. The nurses will also have an easy task of caring for the patients since the electronic record will enhance patients’ accessibility. At the same time, the elderly will get an opportunity to be treated at home as this will be the most effective way of promoting their recovery.

Conclusion

In summary, Electronic Healthcare Records are a fundamental technological requirement that is urgent in the health industry due to the dynamics experienced in the sector. The implementation of the EHR is to a large extent the responsibility of the providers since they are required to provide the necessary structure that will help the availability of data required by both the medics and the clients. Computer patient-based record is the basic information system used, and it is upon which the EHR should be incorporated. The innovative recommendation is that the EHR gadgets ought to be made in a way that they mimic normal objects so that they can be easier to move around. The leadership in the health industry should provide proper leadership so as to achieve the required cooperation among the various stakeholders. Lastly, the benefits to the community include the low medical cost as well as the availability of vital health information.

References

Blumenthal D. (2010). The future of health care and electronic records. Health IT Buzz. Retrieved from: https://www.healthit.gov/buzz-blog/electronic-health-and-medical- records/the-future-of-health-care-and-electronic-records/

Razi M.A., Emmert C., McAlpine-Austin D., Tarn J.M. & Islam K.N. (2011). Electronic health records (EHR) implementation and post-implementation challenges. Western Michigan University. Retrieved from: http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=ichita_transactions