Abstract Computerized management is a revolution from the conventional management systems that require the organization to use physical records in managing the organization. The use of computerized management system in the community hospital should be encouraged to enable the organization to rip maximum benefits. The use of electronic records does not only benefit the staff working in the company but also the patients being treated in the organization. The management will also benefit from the use of computerized computer management in that resource management and revenue management is controlled.
Nursing Informatics: Computerized Management Systems Could Increase Quality of Care
A computerized management system refers to the use of hardware and soft ware in the managing process within an organization. Computerized management systems in a community-based health institution can be used in management of the organization and treatment of the patients. The management can use the computerized systems to manage the financials of the patients. Improved financial management will enable the organization to be aware of its debtors and collect money owed to the organization. Improved revenue collection will enable the organization to finance its operations and pay its bills on time. The organization will run efficiently with the adequate management thus improved quality of healthcare.
The medical team can also utilize the computerized management systems to manage patient's information. The patient's personal information can be stored in the medical institutions database to manage the patient's health. The information stored in the institutions database can be used by government to understand the health risks facing the people in the community thus creating awareness. The government is also able to use this statistical information to improve the quality of healthcare enjoyed by the citizens. Storage of information enables the doctors to diagnosis patients ailments accurately thus saving on treatment cost. This improves the quality of healthcare enjoyed by the patients (Hasman, 2000).
Active nursing involvement
The nurses are important in any medical organization as they provide the organization with specialized support staff to conduct medical operations in the hospital. The nurses assist the doctors and carry out medical instruction in the hospital. Nurses also make up a considerable number of workers working in any medical institution. This makes the nurses an important part of the selection, planning and implementation of a computerized management system. The involvement of the nurses ensures that the organization selects a system that is compatible with most of the workers. The nurses who are the support staff for the doctors collect the data and store the information from the doctors. The nurses explain the patient's information to the doctors or provide them with electronic health records.
Integrating handheld devices
Hand held devised including note pads, pens, thermometers, blood pressure meters should be incorporated in to the management systems to make collection of information accurate and adequate. While some of the hand held tools can be computerized, others need the nurses to manually input the readings into a computer system. This requires special software that the nurses should have knowledge of to ensure efficient collection of information. Computerized pads are some of the technologies currently available in the market that allow the notes written by the doctor to be automatically converted to computer records. Some of the equipments like the pressure meters have computer outputs to enable the nurse to record the information easily. Accurate and quick data collection will improve the quality of healthcare by reducing the time patients spend in healthcare centers. Quick service time enables the medical institution to serve more customers thus higher revenue compared to other organization that do not implement technology in their organizations (Singh, 2007).
Security standards of data
Technology has facilitated information storage and sharing within a database and the internet exposing the patient's information to the risk of being seen by an authorized people. The major challenge facing computerized computer system is the exposure of client's personal information to individuals that are not authorized. The system selected by the organization should comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act which governs the use of client's information in the medical institution.
The regulations increases the cost of learning the system as extra security measures have to be implemented to ensure that the clients information is safe and used for the right purpose by the medical institutions. The law requires that the medical professional exercise professionalism when handling client information. The information stored in the organizations database should be backed up to minimize the risk of information loss in a secure location. The organization should also have adequate security protocol to protect information from hackers and viruses (De, 2006).
Effect healthcare cost
Implementation of a new health management system in the community-based healthcare center can be evaluated in two categories. The first effect would be the short-term effect which would see the cost of healthcare increase. This can be attributed to the cost of implementation and acquisition of the required software and hardware to run the system. This cost can be passed down to the patients until the organization has recovered the investment cost. The long-term effect on the healthcare cost would be to reduce the cost of healthcare and improve the quality.
The cost of healthcare would reduce due to accurate diagnosis of diseases making patients spend less on healthcare. The time spent in healthcare center will also reduce improving the efficiency of the organization. Patients will spend less time in the medical institution and spend the rest on constructive activities. Revenue collection will be facilitated thus the organization will be able to subsidize some of the procedures conducted in the organization.
Benefits to patient care and nursing care delivery
Implementation will enable the collection of patient's information quickly compared to conventional means. Quick information collection enables the patients to receive medical attention quicker in the organization. These procedures save the patients and family of the patient time that can be used in other activities. The diagnosis of ailments will be accurate assisting patients to get better soon and save on costs spent on wrong treatment. Accurate diagnosis of ailments enables the organization to avoid legal cases against the organization.
Nurses are able to provide quality services through the use of computerized systems. Collection of information from the patient is accurate and quick making the nurse's work efficiently. The nurses can work for a longer time and serve more clients per day thus improving the efficiency of the workers. The work load reduced through the use of computerized management enables the nurses to channel thus provides better services (Schiller, 1994).
System to purchase
There are several categories of system management software's that can be used in medical institutions depending on the needs of the organization. The systems management that I would recommend for the medical center is in the category of electronic health and medical records. The system distributed by GPL is known as FreeMED. The system can be used for managing the records of the medical institution to ensure accurate data recording and protection. The system stored all the information collected from the patients and can be used for information gathering and statistical purposes.
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