Role Description and Education Level
Informatics is significant in any clinical setting because it provides an opportunity to code data so that it can be processed in different ways. As a result, healthcare professionals obtain a possibility to receive meaningful and understandable information. If a person is willing to be qualified for informatics, one is required to have an appropriate education. In particular, Bachelor’s Degree in Informatics and Computer Science is required.
For this assignment, a biomedical computer technologist was interviewed. The professional obtained Bachelor’s Degree as required. However, the focus was made on Biomedical Informatics. The interviewee uses his knowledge and skills to benefit patients and improve the performance of the hospital in which he works. He deals with the information needs of healthcare professionals and their clients and responds in a timely and efficient. He analyzes the clinical process to reveal existing issues or areas that can be improved. On the basis of the obtained information, the medical informant manages to create and implement those support systems that are regularly used by the staff in order to develop the most advantageous clinical decisions. Due to the actions performed by this professional, the health information system applied in the hospital enhances significantly.
The technologist makes sure that international standards are applied to his clinical setting. He focuses on their major uses and characteristics to reveal the way they should be utilized in order to bring the most advantage to both healthcare personnel and patients. The interviewee also pays attention to organizational structure. He manages changes when required, revealing the way informatics can be used to streamline them and enhance hospital performance. The professional develops recommendations for the institution, focusing on its characteristics and purposes. As a result, he manages to recommend and implement those electronic systems that meet the needs of the setting. Finally, he takes part in various conferences and education programs, which provides him with an opportunity to benefit the whole field.
Even though medical informatics benefit the practice of clinical settings significantly, their role is not clearly understood by numerous individuals. Fortunately, at least some healthcare institutions have information departments and understand their importance for the ability to gather high-quality data that is needed to make the right diagnosis and select the most appropriate treatment. While practitioners incorporate data by hand, they increase the amount of lost information and gather not useful facts. Medical informatics allows avoiding these drawbacks and capturing accurate data. The interviewee mentions that he believes his major duty to be the supervision of the information lifecycle and the implementation of improvements needed to ensure its quality.
Impacts on Patient Safety and the Quality of Patient Care
The medical informant realizes that the nursing profession cannot be managed without the use of technology currently. All professionals need to play a role in informatics in order to benefit their clients. For instance, all healthcare facilities use electronic medical records on a daily basis because they recognize their benefits for the majority of the operations. Due to proper management of informatics, it is possible to enhance patient safety and the quality of the delivered care.
Informatics provides an opportunity to enhance medical documentation that is significant for nursing. It allows nurses and physicians to collect and share patient information electronically, so no significant facts are lost, and data can be obtained from almost any location. As a result, practitioners can provide effective care that contributes to the enhancement of the quality of care and leads to improved health outcomes.
With the help of informatics, the number of medical errors can be minimized, which means that professionals’ practices become safer. Healthcare personnel can easily understand whether their patients have allergies to prescribed medicines or are not recommended to be used along with particular drugs. Hence, the issue of medical errors and misdiagnosis is rarely observed.
It is also significant to pay attention to the financial side of informatics in healthcare. Professionals who perform their duties in this area can help the hospital to reduce its costs significantly. The prevention of medical errors means that the necessity to repeat tests is reduced and patients recover faster than usual. As a result, there is no need to spend funds to provide them with healthcare services anymore.
Finally, informatics can facilitate the coordination of care within the clinical setting. With its help, all healthcare professionals, including physicians, nurses, and pharmacists, etc., can share patient data and associated information. In such a manner, provides care becomes more effective and timely, which is beneficial for both the quality of the provided care and patient safety.
Human Factors and Other Challenges
Professionals occupied in the area of informatics within the clinical setting face different types of challenges, associated with human factors and ergonomics. First of all, it is vital for the informant to be aware of all peculiarities of the information system that is used in the hospital. The health and the well-being of the client can be affected significantly by any errors associated with it. Both physiological and psychological aspects can increase the possibility of error. Professionals’ inability to use electronic systems or even their inattentiveness can lead to the provision of irrelevant information. The complexity of the system and the absence of qualified workers who can educate the rest of the staff members to utilize it may make it impossible to benefit from informatics.
Insights Gained from the Interview
Due to this interview, I managed to understand the essence of health informatics. Now, I know what roles these professionals have and how they influence the quality of care and patient safety. In addition to that, informatics allows enhancing decision-making associated with treatment options and allocation of care. It helps with processing patient information and sharing it with other professionals. The number of medical errors and the spending of the facility reduces as well.
The Impact of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Patient Safety Indicators and the Joint Commission Patient Safety Goals
Being affected by the AHRQ’s focus on patients, the hospital becomes willing to facilitate the development of safe and high-quality care (AHRQ, 2018). All medical decisions are made on the basis of the available evidence, so research findings can be easily used in practice. Under the influence of the Joint Commission Patient Safety Goals, the hospital pays attention to the education of personnel and prevention of health complications (The Joint Commission, 2017). Evidence-based practice is emphasized and documentation associated with the use of catheters, for instance, is stored. Patient safety associated with the use of medication is also improved.
The Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform (TIGER)
The hospital acknowledges the necessity of developing a positive digital environment. The interviewee believes that the integration of technology and informatics should be facilitated and streamlined because it allows enhancing healthcare practices and benefiting patients. According to TIGER, professionals who work in the hospital should be educated regarding the use of informatics so that they can easily analyze and share data (HIMSS, 2018). As a result, accurate patient information can be obtained when needed, and the possibility of health issues reduces.
References
AHRQ. (2018). About AHRQ. Web.
HIMSS. (2018). The TIGER initiative. Web.
The Joint Commission. (2017). Hospital: 2018 national patient safety goals. Web.