Introduction to Health IT: Health Management Information Systems

Introduction to Health IT: Health Management Information Systems
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Introduction to Health IT: Health Management Information Systems
Information management is the process of getting information from different sources, storing it and the dissemination of information to those who need it. Health management involves the provision of leadership and direction to organizations that provide health care services. This can be done using an information system which is an organized structure that collects, organizes, stores and transfers information. Informatics is the act of processing information and the engineering of information systems. It is a field that involves the interaction of human beings and information to come up with interfaces, systems, and technologies.
According to Paton (2014), wellbeing informatics is characterized by the interdisciplinary investigation of the appropriation, advancement, outline, and the application of IT in development and innovations in the administrations, conveyance, and arranging of the medicinal services. Biomedical informatics is also a field in the health management that deals with the study and the examination of the use of biomedical data, information and knowledge of medical inquiry, decision making and problem-solving which is aimed at improving health care. The four fields in biomedical informatics are; public informatics, health informatics, clinical informatics, imaging informatics and bioinformatics, Information from these fields can be used in different ways to improve the healthcare sector.

One of them is by using computing techniques and information technology to avoid uncertainty in diagnosing and to provide quality clinical decision making. Another one is utilizing the modern computerized methods to design a drug to solve complicated clinical problems (Paton, 2014). Designing and managing of information systems that support the pharmacy, radiology, laboratory and the hospital.
An information system is divided into three major categories. The first one is the transaction processing system which analyses and organizes information to complete a particular transaction. Managing information system is software that helps in carrying out managerial functions. The third one is the decision support system which gathers data and analyses it to use it in decision making. These information systems have different functions which are useful to the healthcare sector. Information systems improve communication among the departments through the use of messages, emails and video calls which are cheap and fast. Information systems are cost-effective and improve productivity; operations are more efficient, and the information is readily available to decision makers.
An electronic health record is the electronic form of patient’s medical history is kept by the management of the hospital and contains all clinical information of the person including problems, notes, and medication. On the other hand, an electronic medical record is digitalized chart that carries the entire patient’s medical history from one practice; it mainly includes information about identification and treatment of specific disease. These records are used to exchange information between the staff in charge of medical care. It also provides a comprehensive view of the patient’s medical information. Paton (2014) says that electronic health records are aimed at providing efficient and high-quality comprehensive health care regardless of the time and place of the healthcare delivery .
The integration of computer science, information science, and health informatics is important since it is used in many fields of science, for example, public health, pharmacy, and dentistry. Health informatics enables doctors and other people to get the right information in a simple way. It combines information technology, medicine and information technology to deliver efficient and effective health care to patients. Health informatics also leads to the discovery of drugs through continuous technology advancement.
Currently, informatics is widely used in different sectors. The health sector has adopted informatics in its operations. Doctors are aware of new inventions, new drugs and new processes and procedures. The integration of the patient’s health records with computers makes it easier for doctors to track the health records of a patient. There is improved record keeping which makes it easy to retrieve records of a patient, and this enables a doctor to recommend medicine or surgeries according to the past health records. This has led to tremendous improvement in how the doctors offer treatment to patients.
References
Paton, C. (2014). Massive open online course for health informatics education. Healthcare informatics research, 20(2), 81-87.