Introduction
Nowadays, information technology is an essential part of healthcare, as various applications ensure a connection between patients and nurses and pay vehement attention to the sufficient flow of information within the medical institution. Consequently, the primary goal of this paper is to assess the impact of different types of applications such as ERP systems and e-Health on the overall functioning of the healthcare organization. At the same time, it is vital to provide a rationale for the need for IM and IT strategic planning and explain the importance of the system development life cycle. Lastly, this paper will describe several recommendations related to ensuring secure access to healthcare and effective implementation of systems theory.
Applications and Their Impact on Healthcare Organization
As it was mentioned earlier, the modern healthcare system attempts to take advantage of various IT trends. These aspects have a clear impact on the overall functioning of the medical institution and comply with its main goals such as constantly enhancing the overall quality of the provided services, increasing awareness of the patients, minimizing the frequency of medical errors, and having sufficient flow of information between departments. For example, patient care applications tend to store more information about patients, various treatments, allergies, and their medical condition while regularly collecting data about them. In this instance, these digital instruments help medical institutions design more personalized approaches and focus on the principles of patient-centered care (Santilli & Vogenberg, 2015). Taking advantage of this innovation increases customer satisfaction and the desire to continue a relationship with the hospital.
In turn, the role of e-health applications cannot be underestimated. For example, healthcare professionals tend to use different mobile applications that give them access to recent healthcare standards, evidence-based practice solutions, and patient records (EHR) (Ventola, 2014). Having constant access to this information reduces the frequency of medical errors and ensures that the actions of nurses and physicians comply with the current legislation. Simultaneously, using EHR and relying on evidence-based practice help design personalized treatments and reflect the principles of patient-centered care and high quality. Nonetheless, to ensure sufficient planning, scheduling, and communication between departments, hospitals use management and enterprise systems (ERP) such as MEDHOST. At the same time, decision-support applications such as QMR are also an important part of this process, as they contribute to the effective decision-making at the managerial level (Ventola, 2014). These digital instruments organize working processes in hospitals while paying critical attention to workloads and available capacities. Overall, it could be said that ERP and other applications help the hospital meet its strategic goals, plan its budget effectively, optimize its working mechanisms, and take advantage of the modern trends.
Essentiality of Strategic Planning for IM/IT
Nonetheless, it remains apparent that the effective functioning of the hospital’s information systems is not possible without sufficient planning. One of the potential reasons for this trend is the fact that living in the digital era implies that the business environment and healthcare industry are highly affected by the changes in IT (Santilli & Vogenberg, 2015). These concepts actively influence the main features of healthcare, as new quality measures are regularly introduced (Santilli & Vogenberg, 2015). Not complying with these modifications will hurt the hospital’s competitive edge and its overall financial stability and profitability. Consequently, employing the concepts of strategic planning can help overcome these obstacles and take advantage of innovative solutions.
In this case, some various elements and aspects have to be included in the strategic plan. In the first place, it is essential to provide the mission and vision of the organization, as it will help the management of the company to select relevant IT solutions to optimize its performance and enhance a competitive edge. At the same time, values and objectives will serve a similar purpose, but they will provide more details to the mission statement mentioned above. Another critical matter that has to be offered is the analysis of the current condition of the IT/IM system. This evaluation will define strengths, threats, and opportunities of this department and help design long and short-term objectives. The last section of the plan will reflect the actions that have to be taken to achieve the goals mentioned above. In this case, it will list the spheres that require improvement such as e-health, ERP, and patient care applications, proposed changes, assessment of alternatives and current applications (life cycle of each system), and required and available financial resources. A combination of these aspects will contribute to effective decision-making and cost-efficiency.
Importance of System Development Life Cycle
Apart from the significance of various IT solutions in healthcare, one cannot underestimate a substantial role in the system development life cycle. In this case, this approach is important since it helps select only the most effective applications to improve the efficiency of IT and IM systems in the hospital. For example, the initial stage of the system development life cycle is of paramount importance to both developers and hospitals. This phase helps design a solution that entirely complies with the needs of the organization and its strategic objectives. Alternatively, following the stages of the system development can ease the overall implementation process since medical personnel and management of the healthcare institution will be aware of its key features and have particular expectations towards its functioning. Simultaneously, paying attention to initial phases of the system or application development can determine its drawbacks and define the gaps that have to be filled. It will help avoid different types of errors in the future and improve the financial efficiency of the medical institution. Furthermore, it has to be stated that hospitals tend to employ various systems and applications with different duration of life cycles. Consequently, being able to distinguish between dissimilar stages can help the organization design an effective strategic plan for IT/IM and understand when digital instruments have to be replaced.
Recommendations to Ensure Secure Access to Healthcare
Despite the benefits of various electronic systems mentioned above, the secure storage of patient information remains one of the major issues in the healthcare industry (Wang, 2015). For example, the leakage of confidential information from EHR is one of the critical problems that tend to exist within the modern healthcare system (Wang, 2015). To avoid the negative consequences of this issue, minimize the frequency of these incidents, and increase the security of the storage of the data about the patients, the management of the hospital tends to introduce various solutions.
Within the IT system, various mechanisms can be discovered as protection instruments. For example, the majority of medical institutions introduce different authentication procedures to ensure that only authorized individuals and medical personnel have access to patient data and EHRs (Wang, 2015). Passwords and identification of the users in the system can be discovered as the most common digital tools that are used to control access to confidential information (Wang, 2015). This matter is usually introduced by the authorities of the hospital, who establish security procedures and rules that have to be followed. Nonetheless, to avoid the leakage of information, using these instruments may not be enough. Consequently, continuous evaluation of risks and monitoring of the functioning of the IT system can be discovered as additional preventive strategies.
Recommendations for Improving the Systems Theory
The analysis of the concepts mentioned above, clearly shows that the implementation of various IT/IM systems requires improvement since different problems tend to exist. For example, the leakage of confidential information and system failure is the most common issue (Wang, 2015). Consequently, to improve the implementation of the systems theory, one of the recommendations is to evaluate the existent and potential systems continuously. In this instance, employing the concepts of due diligence is one of the approaches. This business strategy helps evaluate various alternatives and determines whether the chosen solution is the most relevant option in terms of cost-effectiveness (Sherer, Hoffman, Wallace, Ortiz, & Satnick, 2016).
Another recommendation is using concepts of transformational leadership, as it will cultivate change and help the employees achieve organizational goals and objectives (Middleton, Harvey, & Esaki, 2015). Being a role model and involving personnel in the decision-making process will ease the implementation of the systems theory since the employees will feel like a part of the managerial team. Nonetheless, the strategies mentioned above have to be implemented simultaneously, as it will help avoid adverse consequences and underline the need for change.
References
Middleton, J., Harvey, S., & Esaki, N. (2015). Transformational leadership and organizational change: How to leaders approach trauma-informed organizational change…Twice? Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Sciences, 96(3), 155-163.
Santilli, J., & Vogenberg, R. (2015). Key strategic trends that impact healthcare decision-making and stakeholder roles in the new marketplace. American Health & Drug Benefits, 8(1), 15-20.
Sherer, J., Hoffman, T., Wallace, K., Ortiz, E., & Satnick, T. (2016). Merger and acquisition due diligence part II – Devil in the details. Richmond Journal of Law & Technology, 22(2), 1-62.
Ventola, L. (2014). Mobile devices and apps for healthcare professionals: Uses and benefits. Pharmacy & Therapeutics, 39(5), 356-364.
Wang, C. (2015). Security and privacy of personal health record, electronic medical record, and health information. Problems & Perspectives in Management, 13(4), 19-26.