Information Technology and Patient Safety, Assessment Example

Information technology is a modern science intervention. It has entered health care settings under concepts such electronic health records (EHR) clinical decision making systems; health information exchanges(HIE) among many very complicated terminologies, which  at a glimpse have nothing to do with medicine or immediate  patient care. However, when a nurse shows up for work one day and realizes that there are no more patients’ files and the cabinets have been replaced by computers, it becomes a difficulty.

Some nurses are not computer literate even though the certifying examinations are computerized multiple choice items. Therefore, patient safety from my point of view is challenged. If nurses have limited computer literacy, interpreting patient orders from a doctor written in a computer file becomes a tragedy or the patient. Essentially,  withthe improvements in quality of patient care information technology is expected to produce, there are more medical errors than existed prior to its usage in health care practice.

Sadly, nurses, physicians, consultants,pharmacists and laboratory technicians can no longer function without a computerized device attached whendelivering patient services. These devices relate requisitions for patient care. Any malfunctions in the system result in wrong data being entered and patients are offered wrong medications, surgeries conducted on the wrong patient and site. Also, misdiagnoses escalate with the clinical decision making feature.

Consequently from my point of view while information technology has its strength in providing faster services, patient safety is compromised if users are not fully equipped with skills to articulate the mechanisms. Many IT vendors do not comply with HIPPA software safety regulations and systems do not work accurately. By the time the healthcare organization realizes the malfunction many errors have already occurred (Chaudhry, Wang & Wu, 2006).

References

Chaudhry, B. Wang, J., & Wu, S. (2006). Systematic review: Impact of health information Technology on quality, efficiency, and costs of medical care, Annals of Internal Medicine, 144(10), 742–752.