Medical practice is accompanied by servicing a large number of patients, conducting many complex diagnostic examinations, and processing a significant amount of information. Therefore, without health information technology (HIT), it is difficult to provide quality medical care. 81% of researches demonstrated improved medical outcomes in efficiency or effectiveness due to HIT adoption (Kruse & Beane, 2018). The use of HIT in the process of diagnosis and treatment and intensive integration into the global information space are important tasks in the development of medicine.
HIT Influence on End Users
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the effectiveness of HIT. These technologies enable the poor and remotely located patients to get appropriate treatment and services by having virtual interactive sessions with their respective medical professionals and healthcare personnel (Singh et al., 2020). This facilitates the work of medical staff and reduces the burden on medical facilities. A challenge for the use of HIT by end users is the lack of awareness and computer literacy, especially of the older generation, which limits the ability to take full advantage of the technology. The prevalence of HIT use significantly increased from 9.3 million in 2009 to 22.3 million in 2018 (Hung et al., 2020). Creating a simple and convenient interface in programs by attracting talented UI/UX designers will help cope with this challenge and simplify the work of doctors and end users.
Influence of HIT on Policy
More than 95% of US hospitals now use EHRs (Sittig & Singh, 2020). It creates an opportunity to develop a nationwide real-time data collection infrastructure. Data could generate accurate estimates of real-time disease burden, the need for resources, and show potential global threats. Based on this data, health policy can become more flexible and effective. However, government-driven surveillance and intervention seem impossible in the US, considering issues of personal privacy and choice (Sittig & Singh, 2020). Otherwise, HHS issued limited waivers to facilitate the nation’s ability to care for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. It shows how regulations can be modified during extraordinary times. Focusing on maximizing the benefits of critical resources, treating everyone equally, and prioritizing efforts to save lives while maintaining trust and confidentiality, HIT could meet the highest ethical standards.
Influence of HIT on Workforce Development
It seems evident that the HIT facilitates the work of the nursing staff, reduces the workload, and minimizes medical errors. Still, such expectations do not always align with what occurs when technologies and their users interact in practice (Bergey et al., 2019). The challenge in the workforce development field is that not all medical personnel can quickly adapt to new technologies. The solution may be to conduct training courses and stimulate self-help within teams in mastering new tools of new tools.
Influence of HIT on Leadership
Nurse managers use the opportunity of HIT-modified workflows to adapt staffing practices such that teams would be more multi-skilled, adaptable, and patient-facing (Bergey et al., 2019). The challenge for leaders is that technology has not made health care less expensive, unlike all other industries. Technology has made health care more labor intensive and more expensive (Wachter & Howell 2018). To solve this problem, leaders should carefully analyze technologies, identify the most effective and worthy of attention and implement them without wasting already limited resources of healthcare institutions on less valuable ones.
Biblical Perspective
The use of technology in medicine may seem controversial to some people whose moral and ethical compass is shaped by scripture. For this reason, it is important to inform the patient about the various features of the application of technologies. For the most part, HIT does not violate biblical injunctions. Still, information and clarification is as necessary for processing information about the patient as is information about the immediate procedures and studies.
Conclusion
HIT has the potential to improve the quality and safety of healthcare services. Although, like any other technology has its obstacles. However, all the advantages that HIT create prevail over the difficulties that arise and are worth looking for creative approaches to solving these challenges. Moreover, examples of the effective overcoming of many of these challenges are already being demonstrated by various organizations. All healthcare participants and patients already feel the positive effects of CIT, and this trend will only increase in the near future.
References
Bergey, M. R., Goldsack, J. C., & Robinson, E. J. (2019). Invisible work and changing roles: Health information technology implementation and reorganization of work practices for the inpatient nursing team. Social Science & Medicine, 235, 112387.
Hung, L. Y., Lyons, J. G., & Wu, C. H. (2020). Health information technology use among older adults in the United States, 2009–2018. Current medical research and opinion, 36(5), 789-797.
Kruse, C. S., & Beane, A. (2018). Health information technology continues to show positive effect on medical outcomes: systematic review. Journal of medical Internet research, 20(2), e8793. Singh, R. P., Javaid, M., Haleem, A., Vaishya, R., & Bahl, S. (2020). Significance of Health Information Technology (HIT) in context to COVID-19 pandemic: Potential roles and challenges. Journal of Industrial Integration and Management, 5(04), 427-440.
Sittig, D. F., & Singh, H. (2020). COVID-19 and the need for a national health information technology infrastructure. Jama, 323(23), 2373-2374.
Wachter, R. M., & Howell, M. D. (2018). Resolving the productivity paradox of health information technology: a time for optimism. Jama, 320(1), 25-26.