Role of Information Technology in Delivery of Healthcare - Essay Example

"Role of Information Technology in Delivery of Healthcare" is a wonderful example of a paper on care.  While medical devices are used in the treatment of patients, there are several hazards that may be associated and can be addressed through the use of HFE. The primary function of this is to reduce the hazardous effects of the use of medical devices thereby providing patients with the desired delivery and care. The HFE can be incorporated into the risk management process of any medical unit in order to spot, comprehend, manage, and avert malfunctions the consequences of which may lead to hazards when the public make use of medical devices (Medical Device Use-Safety: Incorporating Human Factors Engineering into Risk Management, 2000, pp.5-8).

For identifying and describing use scenarios HFE may be applied through the approach of the description of the device being used, through user interface design that uses regulated standards, and through the use of analytic and empirical approaches for understanding the methodical disintegration of the device. In order to prioritize and assess the hazards, the experts are used to determine the priority of the risk factors associated. Mitigation controls may be developed through the application of HFE by modifying the design of the device or build a user interface that uses operating logic and is tolerant of errors, make the device capable of signaling an alert to the users, as well as build up written procedures and train for secured operations. The user interface design can also be verified using HFE that confirms whether the requirements of the design have been successfully met or not. These are some of the approaches for making use of HFE in medical units providing safety healthcare to the patients. The needs of the users of health devices can be understood to have been taken care of through the documentation of the use of HFE in the risk management policies of a medical unit (Medical Device Use-Safety: Incorporating Human Factors Engineering into Risk Management, 2000, pp.17-29).

Solution 2: Role of Information Technology in Delivery of Healthcare:

In present times, the delivery of healthcare has altered significantly with the use of information technology. Computer-based patient records, information systems in hospitals; the decision support tools based on computers, health information networks of different communities are some of the newer technologies in the information that are now used in the process of healthcare delivery in hospitals. This has created new opportunities for the applications of innovative measures of treatment and healthcare (Bringing Health Care Online: The Role of Information Technologies, 1995, p.1).

There are certain benefits that can be achieved for patients with the use of information technology in healthcare delivery. This is primarily owing to the availability of better communication and coordination that can enable improved quality of treatment. Since records of patients can be stored electronically hence distance does not matter anymore and data may be retrieved easily at any time of need. Although there may issue in regard to the installation of these systems as well as their security and privacy, yet, information technology assists in maintaining standards measures of healthcare delivery to the patients (Herrick, Gorman & Goodman, 2010, pp.1-2). Information technology and health information technology (HIT) enables a hospital to evaluate their promptness, preparation, choose put into practice, build valuable employment of, and replace vital information regarding the patients that the hospitals serve, and thus operate as one of the most significant parts of the strategic planning of the organization. Toolkits are available for HIT that focus on the identification of suitable measures and implement them with the concerned need for readiness and service values for healthcare (Health Information Toolkit for Critical Access and Small Hospitals, 2010).

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