Using technology in hospitals to advance patient care

Using technology in hospitals to advance patient care

Introduction

The technology use inside hospitals to facilitate the care of the patients is considered to be extremely helpful for the staff as well as the patients themselves. However, this topic is widely argued upon. Technology has a lot of benefits but its advantages appear to be relatively lower but significant nevertheless.

Discussion

Historical perspective

Technology was initially used in the form of basic computers carrying out administrative operations. The emergence of technology in the health care facilities was witnessed in the 1970s. This was the introduction of the shared systems in this field. The data and prescriptions provided to the patients were kept as a computerized record, along with various other functions including billing, financial applications, etc. it has taken more than 20 years, but today most health care facilities make use of automated softwares. There have been several vendors who have managed annual revenues of 100 million dollars. These include WebMD, Quadramed, Eclipsys, etc. There have been three major advancements in technology in the past 10 years or more (Skinner, J. & Douglas S., 2009). These include the availability of the large scale databases, the software developments of the true relational databases as well as the emergence of the internet in to the commercial marketplace. The medical records of the patients have been advanced as now their voices, images and other related data could be saved in the database. Furthermore, the physician and the personal data of the patient can also be stored in to the database. This was achieved in the end 1980s and the starting 1990s. It is important to note that the market vendors had a major role in introducing technology in the health care facilities. The major emphasis was laid to the nurses and the physicians to save their time keeping a manual record and record everything automatically in to the databases. This would enhance the care of the patients by saving the physician's time as well as a formal record could be kept which thus developing the history of the patients which could be used for various medical purposes by any other physician who the patient seeks consultation from.

Culture

The culture of a hospital is considered to be an important part, especially while anything new is being implemented. The attitudes of the employees are known to be the greatest challenges. It is considered to be the number one risks and lead to severe problems including mistrust and apathy. It is mostly advised that the technology which is implemented should be in accordance with the acceptance of the hospital staff as well as the patients. This is because the staff should find the use of this technology to be easy and without putting a lot of effort in to it as well as the fact that it does not get in the way of how the hospital looks out for its patients. With the increasing use of the technology, it has become rather easy ...