The internet today has become indispensable. The various areas that the internet has impacted on include the way friends and family communicate, facilitation of trade of goods and services, made research on different topics easy, and it has acted as a means through which people can entertain themselves through (Kardia Health Systems, 2012).These impacts have also been observed in the healthcare industry whereby it has strengthened the practices of physicians.
In order for health care to be effective, it should have ready access to information that is timely and accurate. Healthcare does not add any value to anybody if it cannot be shared, located, and applied (Kardia Health Systems, 2012). Information sharing adds value to people and it therefore receives significant appreciation from patients and physicians. It is because of this that many health care organizations are taking advantage of the advancing technology to enable them provide high-value patient services.
The Internet has been observed to be very effective in enabling people to access and share web-based information quickly and easily. Different health organizations are adopting various web-based software applications, which have proved to be very cost effective. In addition, these applications have the capacity to store large amounts of data which easy is to access. These applications have made it possible for physicians to easily retrieve the information that they need regardless of their location. Security over the internet has also advanced such that it is now very easy to protect data effectively and hence prevent it from being comprised (Suk & Lancellott-Young, n.d).
Most health organizations have adopted healthcare information management systems in order to effectively address the complex issues facing their patients. Since these systems are internet-based, they have had positive impact on the health of patients. The internet removes all restrictions that are related to geographical locations and this issue has made it possible for health institutions and patients to gain access to competent physicians irrespective of where they are located. It is also possible for multiple physicians to collaboratively review a patient’s condition and hence provide the patient with a diagnosis that is more certain (Kardia Health Systems, 2012). With the medical services being availed over the internet, it has become possible for medical practitioners to keep up-to-date patient records and clinical information.
However, there is a lot of information about health care that is circulating in the internet today and there no sure way of confirming that the information is true. There is a lot of irrelevant information that can mislead people who misuse it. There has been situations whereby physicians have had to un-teach their patients what they have learnt over the internet because most of the information that many patients acquire from the internet ends up being contrary to what the real physicians in the physical world practice (Suk & Lancellott-Young, n.d).
From the analysis, therefore it is true that most healthcare organizations that are making use of the internet to manage their information have received significant attention because they are capable of delivering better quality services to their patients. However, there is a lot of healthcare information that is misleading inexperienced patients who regularly use the internet to gather information about their health. Most physicians should therefore make it their duty to assist their patients in finding reliable information from the Internet and how they can interpret it.
References
Kardia Health Systems. (2012). How will the internet impact healthcare? Web.
Suk, D., & Lancellott-Young, C. (n.d). Internet and Social Change. Web.