Introduction
Healthcare informatics is a field that specializes in developing and studying information systems involved in the healthcare delivery process. With the rising importance of technology and the ongoing digitization of medicine, informatics has started to occupy a central role in discussing how to safely and effectively integrate technological solutions into medical settings.
Discussion
In order to prove their understanding of healthcare informatics, organizations within the US must possess accreditation distributed by organizations such as the Joint Commission – a non-profit enterprise focused on helping healthcare providers. In performing healthcare informatics, the joint commission has a specific set of expectations and standards that organizations must meet. First, healthcare providers must establish a culture of safety, both for staff and patients (The Joint Commission, 2015). This concerns preventing errors in handling or inputting patient data, managing healthcare information security, and providing workers with appropriate IT education.
All of these processes seek to empower organizations and their use of technology while ensuring patient security. Following this, IT solutions within a healthcare organization must be used for the betterment of the healthcare delivery process, free from potential malfunctions and safe (The Joint Commission, 2015). These measures ensure that the use of technology becomes more than a way to spend resources, but an invaluable tool of healthcare. Lastly, the Joint Commission asserts that IT implementation must include leadership that directs the continued improvement and application of technology (The Joint Commission, 2015). Necessary upgrades and technical improvements, examinations of potential risks, and planning for the future all become a necessary part of organizational healthcare informatics. Through these standards, it is possible to help healthcare organizations effectively utilize their resources and safely assist patients in their health journeys. The existence of accreditation helps to ensure that IT is used responsibly. In addition, it sets an important standard for the development of healthcare informatics as a field. By providing healthcare organizations with quantifiable requirements of excellence, it is possible to further refine and improve these standards as a way to encourage research-based practice.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the presence of accreditation helps empower the population. Patients will be able to choose healthcare facilities they consider reliable and safe by checking whether a given organization has IT-related accreditation. A failure to acquire Joint Commission approval, then, signifies a potential loss in revenue (“Health care accreditation and quality of care,” 2022). Organizations that are unable to meet the standards set by the enterprise will be outpaced by their competition.
References
Health care accreditation and quality of care: Exploring the role of accreditation and external evaluation of health care facilities and organizations. (2022). World Health Organization (WHO). Web.
The Joint Commission. (2015). Safe use of health information technology [PDF]. Web.