The Business Context and Business Knowledge, Term Paper Example

Summarize at a high level the business context and business knowledge relevant to UNC and their paperless electronic medical record initiative.

According to the case report University of North Carolina (UNC) Health System introduced unifiedElectronic Medical Record (EMR) to be utilized in all clinical practice locations. The patient load and institution capacity of 22,000 yearly inpatient admissions at UNC Hospitals and 600,000 yearly outpatient visits has prompted the establishment of a paperless electronic health model. From a business perspective this is an overwhelming number of files to monitor manually. It encompasses cumbersome cabinets;  huge amounts of filing clerks and  great potential to misplace important information and files (McDonald, 1997).

Importantly, all on-campus ambulatory UNC School of Medicine centers are owned as well as affiliated to remote outpatient facilities within the Health System. Implementing an electronic medical record system improves service delivery and reduces labor cost immensely. UNC potentially   can be sued for breaches in confidentiality when patients’ files are misplaced into places where private information can be used to tarnish their integrity. Therefore, from a business perspective introducing electronic medical records reduces malpractice lawsuit incidences when patient information surfaces in unusual environments (McDonald, 1997).

Identify and describe key functional components, entities and their relationships. Explain the orientation and flow between each within a functional model. Use organization charts to the first level and function flow diagrams, or function maps as needed to help illustrate your message.

The key functional components as described in this case study and expressed in the flow chart above embody physician user illusion data integrated information systemduring the practice phase; departmental information system separate units’ design; computer base electronic medical record for the entire health care system and HL7 interface between departmental systems and CDR. Entities embrace an administrative structure consisting of information system advisory board; chief information officer health system; clinical information administrative officers and clinical staff (Hammond,  Berger  & Carey, 1993).

Identify and describe key processes and howthey are (or should be) performed.

Key processes include technical basis evaluation for clinical information system (CIS) architecture; designing security and remote access as well as installation and upgrade interventions. Clinical information system architecture has three levels namely, central government, territory and patient carrying levels. These are further supported by client – servers to enable networking. This process is conducted by systems analysis applications. Remote access and security designs are constructed according to HIPPA regulations allowing access to many vendors within the network. Installation and upgrade is undertaken by vendors who have been contracted to implement the service. They employ distinct techniques and strategies in conducting this professional task(Traynor, 2008).

Identify and describe key activities and tasks, includinghow they are accomplished.

Key activities and tasks include creating database language; interface programs; end user accessibility and privacy security models. Database language is first created by making  CREATE statements in SQL model, which develops an object in a relational database system (RDBMS).Objects that can be created include schemas, domains; character sets, translations tables and views. Next phase in database language development which is crucial to effective electronic medical record communication is CREATE table demonstrating acceptable language features (Traynor, 2008).

Interface programs are application protocols indicating how different software components in the information system interact with each other. This task is often referred to as application programming interface which a significant feature in information technology functioning. End user accessibility is achieved through control mechanisms indicating which end user can legally access information in the system. Similarly privacy/security models are adapted by utilizing HIPPA protocols regarding patient information dissemination embedded in software used during the implementation phase (Traynor, 2008).

Summarize how the systems analysis approach, specific to eachanalysis area, did or could have benefited UNC

Structural system analysis approach towards creating database language; interface programs; end user accessibility and privacy security models could  have benefited UNC primarily because it is an organization with numerous inpatient and outpatient entries. Besides, the experience of moving from paper to paperless electronic medical records involving inpatient/outpatient categories required major adjustments in system as well as individual functioning. Consequently, asystems analysis approach, specific to each analysis area within the structure could have minimized implementation frustrations at every level (Hammond, 1993).

References

Hammond, J. Berger, R., & Carey T. (1993).Progress Report on the Clinical Workstation and Clinical Data Repository at UNC Hospitals. ed. Proceedings of the 17th Annual Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care. Washington, D.C.: McGraw-Hill Inc

McDonald,C. (1997). The Barriers to Electronic Medical Record systems and How to Overcome Them. JAMIA.4:213-221

Traynor, K. (2008). National health information network passes live test. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy 65 (22): 2086–2087