Health Informatics

The following are the capabilities of the following decision support systems that are used in the electronic health record.

Computerized Physician Order Entry

CPOE can be defined as the process by which medical providers tend to enter various instructions for the patient treatment through the use of the computer applications other than using fax, via paper or telephones. CPOE application systems usually allow the medical service providers to enter both medical and other forms of orders electronically, for example, radiology, laboratory and procedures. They also have the capability of minimizing medical errors, as well as improving the efficiency and safety of patient care. It is also able to check on the drug to drug relationship, medication contradictions, allergies as well as medication dosage.

Medication Reconciliation

Medication reconciliation systems have the capacity to assist various facilities in reconciliation of medication therapy of the patients from the time they are admitted to the hospital to the time they are discharged. They provide the clinicians with capacity to get a patient history of medication from retails pharmacies as well as from previous visits. They are also able to analyze the information to check how drugs are interacting, duplicate therapies and, finally, check for any potential nonconformity. They also have the capability to help the clinicians manage various initial orders in addition to transfer reconciliation. Finally, they help in printing of electronic discharge summaries as well as prescriptions.

Computerized Prescriptions

One of the capabilities of the computerized prescription is the ability to reduce medical errors risks when compared to the usage of written prescriptions. The system also has the ability to provide better levels of care when the system checks if the features are put into use properly.

Clinical Decision Support Systems

This system has the capacity to provide the staff, patients, clinicians  and other people with knowledge, as well as the person-specific data/information, which is intelligently selected and presented at the right times with an aim of enhancing health of the patients as well as the overall healthcare quality.

Benefits and challenges of Computerized Prescriptions

One of the benefits of using computerized prescription system in hospitals is that it tends to reduce medical errors that arise during prescription  stage.  The system is crucial as it helps the clinicians to avoid medical errors such as over-prescriptions or under-prescriptions, which may result in the death of the patient.

On the other hand, one of the major challenges of using computerized prescription system is the carelessness of clinicians due to lack of proper knowledge of the system.

The above problem can be overcomed by training various medical staffs on the usage of computerized prescriptions to avoid errors that arise from carelessness. Through training the medical staff will be equipped with knowledge as well as skills on how the application operates, thus leading to improved usage of the application in various prescription roles.

Part B

Need Assessment

In our case above that requires medical staff to be trained on how the computerized prescription works, first it is important to identify the objective and the goals of the application in the hospital setting. Secondly, has these objectives and goals been meet, and then outline the weaknesses of the staff in using the application. Finally, identify the areas in which the staffs need to be trained in order to improve their efficiency in using the system for various prescription roles.

One of the clinical areas that needs need assessment is the area of usage of computerized prescription system in addressing medical errors that did arise in written system. The purpose of these assessment is to identify what kind of training is needed to reduce the errors arising from the usage of written prescription as well as identifying an alternative system that can reduce the problems arising from written prescription application.

One of the functional needs that clinical staffs have in the area of using computerized prescription application is their inability to use the system effectively, because majority of the staff members do not have basic knowledge of how the system operates. Therefore, they need to be trained and educated on how the computerized prescription systems work in order to reduce the medical errors arising in the course of performance of their duties due to their ignorance.

The staffs are concerned with the increasing number of medical errors since the introduction of computerized prescription application, which was meant to reduce the number of errors, but it seems that it is not achieving the intended goal of its implementation.

The usage of electronic health records leads to weakened confidentiality of many medical data. The private data is not safe due to system failures as well as of hacking of data, which result in errors in the usage of data for various medical purposes. The number of people who have access to the medical data is bigger if compared to the traditional system of keeping paper health records. This reduces the privacy and security of the data. Therefore, there is a need to develop tougher legal framework that is meant to ensure that hospitals adopt systems that enhance the privacy and security of various medical data related to their patients.

Part C

Project Proposal for Adopting Electronic Health Record

The following are some of the elements that one should take into consideration when adopting electronic health records. One of the elements to consider is the software that will be used. Will the software be in a position to accommodate all the health records needs. The second element is the security and privacy of the data. The application must be in a position to enhance the privacy and security of the data of various patients.  The cost of the system should also be taken into consideration. There are many other key elements that one should take into account when developing health record systems.

In order to make the process of adopting electronic health records a smooth one it is important to select the project team. While selecting the project team its important to ensure that the team has members who have all the required experience, skills and education to make the project a success. They should have the right skills and experience that are needed to implement the electronic health records. After selecting the team members, brief them on their individual roles in the project and the goals that are intended to achieve by the end of the project. In order to ensure that each member of the team brings value to the project, he/she should have the right skills needed for the project and each and every member of the team should be assigned the role that he/she is better qualified for in the project.

The practice of forming a team for the project will play a crucial role in ensuring that the project gains acceptance from the employees. They will see the project as theirs because their ideas are incorporated during the development of the system. This will make it easier to implement the entire project.

Hospitals can adopt computerized prescriptions as their electronic health record system can aid physicians in the process of making drug prescriptions. On the other hand, nursing home can adopt medication reconciliation systems that can aid in making therapy decisions. Finally, the dental offices can adopt the clinical decision support system for the purposes of supporting record keeping.

Task 2

Part 1

Elements of the Process of Vendor Selection

The process of cost and benefit analysis plays a crucial role in determination of which vendor will supply the application that is needed. The analysis helps to compare the prices being offered for each application by different vendors against the benefits of using the application. This, in turn, helps in focusing on what is offered by the vendors, thereby selecting the best vendor depending on the cost and benefit of the application that he/she is offering.

The request for information when the buyer requests information that is related to the product that he/she wants to purchase such as experience, rates as well as the crucial information in relation to the candidate that is applying to supply the goods. On the other hand, request involves giving an indication to a given contractor that you want to negotiate with on the terms of supplying goods. The two methods are best used together, because they provide one with information on alternative sources of applications.

The request for proposal should include that following elements: description of the project in question/goods needed, objectives you want to achieve, the experience required and, finally, the issue of budget. These elements aid in letting the possible supplier the terms of service that the buyer have in relation to the application that she/he wants. The information that is required on each element can be gathered from the suppliers, financial and marketing departments.

Good working relationship is crucial between the vendors and the company representatives. In order to facilitate this relationship, the terms of contracts should be respected at all times. Vendors, on their part, should always supply goods that meet the quality and quantity measures that are stipulated in the contract.