Introduction
Information technology has gained increased attention among scientists as it has become widely used in the healthcare sector. It possesses the capacity to change nursing practice (Jones, Rudin, Perry, & Shekelle, 2014). IT is discussed in the paper from the standpoint of its relevance, negative and positive impact on the sphere. The future prospects of IT are also stated.
The rationale for the Topic Choice
Electronic health records (EHR) as the most widespread example of IT use in the health care sector is the topic of the study. It has been selected due to the issues connected with EHR. It was identified that EHR can become a cause of patient safety issues. However, this topic is underresearched and has not enough data on the incidents related to EHR. Nurses also experience trouble with the use of this IT, which causes reporting issues, bias, and errors. Therefore, EHR was chosen as a topic for this study.
Topic’s Impact
The topic’s impact is measured by the amount of scientific and government publications that address IT in the health care sector. Notably, the researchers tend to stress the prevalence of IT in hospitals and other health-related settings. Government and private firms sponsor the use of IT. Many papers have been researching positive impacts of the topic, yet not much has been said about negative effects and consequences (Howe, Adams, Hettinger, & Ratwani, 2018). Researchers identify the need for the shift in focus.
Positive Impact of the IT in the Health Care Sector
Among the positive sides of the use of IT in health care, researchers note that it helps save time on recording patient information. Retrieval of information could also be sped up with the help of computerization. With EHR at nurses’ and physicians’ disposal, it became easier to update health records and keep them relevant. Information is easy to access and share and transfer to other specialists in other clinics. The use of EHR is also incentivized and brings financial bonuses for health care workers. The government sponsors the use of EHR and favors its development and implementation.
Negative Impact of the IT in the Health Care Sector
Among the negative sides of IT use in the health care sector are the complications that health care personnel experience when working with it (Howe et al., 2018). Despite the fact that a lot was written about the positive impact of IT, not all of the benefits can be utilized if the personnel is not ready or not willing to change. As such, electronic records could become a stressor for aged medical workers who are not always computer-savvy. EHR technology is also rather insecure from hacker attacks. The information from health records may be used to blackmail the clinic or its clients (Howe et al., 2018). Such adverse events may result in disruptions of the work process and even complete paralysis of hospital functions (Rosenbaum, 2015). Some nurses may experience stress, burnout, and a desire to change the job due to the difficulties with EHR.
Conclusion
The present paper has discussed the use of IT in general and in particular, exemplified by EHR. Major benefits and drawbacks of IT and EHR were identified and discussed. Workers’ lack of preparedness for the introduction of new technologies can be named one of the biggest limitations of the present state of IT use in the health care sector. As for the future, the minimization of the negative effects of the technologies needs to be targeted. The research of IT in the sphere of health care needs further investigation and discussion. It could potentially benefit usability and elaborate strategies to cope with negative side effects.
References
Howe, J. L., Adams, K. T., Hettinger, A. Z., & Ratwani, R. M. (2018). Electronic health record usability issues and potential contribution to patient harm. JAMA, 319(12), 1276-1278.
Jones, S. S., Rudin, R. S., Perry, T., & Shekelle, P. G. (2014). Health information technology: An updated systematic review with a focus on meaningful use. Annals of Internal Medicine, 160(1), 48-55.
Rosenbaum, L. (2015). Transitional chaos or enduring harm? The EHR and the disruption of medicine. The New England Journal of Medicine, 373(17), 1585-1588.