first blog

IT on Health Care

Competitive advantages of IT (Information Technology) are used to travel information faster, via Internet or LAN. This process is probably the best option since the benefits out weigh the cost. As we move deeper in the Information technology era, we see it as a more convenient option to take. Being able to send numerous files filled with information to different locations, as quick as a click, without getting out of your chair, being able to conduct meetings with doctors capable of creating an antidote for the N1H1 virus, that is located in different countries via webcam. Services, facilities, and schedules of doctors available that are found on the website of the hospital/health center is easily accessible via Internet; the need to drive all the way to the hospital/health center is no longer valid at this IT era, as it costs money and time. Numerous websites can be found on the Internet that helps people cure or patch up minor incidents such as gashes or minor cuts.

A competitive advantage as opposed to the messenger boy running and delivering envelopes and letters to the different locations, and his job being to go up and down the elevator as well as looking for the person whom the letter is addressed to, will take time, also considering the possibility of errors in sending the right information to the wrong person, could be costly to the company. Minimizing this risks and delays is important to be able to attain the needs of the customer.

Health care, or the key word health demands speed and accuracy. The hospitals or health care centers must have data such as x-rays, medicine, doctors, nurses and other materials ready for the patients needs, otherwise be easily attainable. A lack in accuracy in the health department may lead the patient into a worse state or may even cause death. Damaging the sales and reputation of that health care center. This will lead to loss of income or worse, if the reason is the hospital refusing to switch to Information Technology as its source of gathering and dispatching of information.

As I see it, limitations of the Information Technology are that health care centers with this technology must continually update the technology as well as the security (firewalls and the like) to prevent viruses from corrupting all the information. As this has a lot to do with computers, black outs and the rebooting process could take about 2 to 3 minutes. Though it may seem short, when faced with a fatal situation, 2 to 3 minutes is a lot of time.

From my own business point of view, the most important is that the customer is satisfied within the margins of the business. Explaining this further, each business aims for customer satisfaction, in doing so leads to "hardcore" loyal customers that help the business since these customers tend to refer the business to their friends and family, which in turn (is served well) gains new customers. Great service almost most of the time leads to an increase in revenue, and revenue in exchange fuels business into adding faster, better quality service.

In my opinion, the Internet today is clearly the fastest, cheaper, better, acceptable option, and along with this option is Information Technology that relieve past problems pertaining to incidents, in the Health care industry, such as fatalities due to delay of information about the history of the patient, which may lead to mal-practice. These services benefit the customer as well as the industry. Faster more accurate information is moved across different hospitals and health centers with very minimal chance of missing information.

The downsides of viruses and black outs may seem to big of a risk since a single virus has the capability to evolve into a data-erasing virus and that it is expensive to continually update firewalls, and that black outs will cause the hospitals and health centers to purchase a big enough generator to power the entire hospital, at the same time fuel costs money and is expensive. Hospitals feed on customer satisfaction, all these expenses are basically paid for themselves since it is these expenses that bring in the customers and keep the customers, and these expenses are actually assets to the hospital and health center. Firewalls, LAN, Internet, Generators, Faster Wi-Fi, Great Doctors, and Helpful Nurses all contribute to customer satisfaction. A customer satisfied will keep refer and comeback, and that hospital or health center will gain a “hardcore” loyal customer and other potential customers that could be attracted by all these services the hospital or health care can provide.

Changes are one of the biggest, most difficult decisions to make especially for a long system that has been working for that business, in this case the health care industry because employees tend to ask the question “Why?” followed by the line “we are doing just fine”. The business must not be satisfied with “just fine” and must keep growing stronger, for this purpose the mission vision statement is made. In all businesses the goal is to be the best of its industry, or the leading supplier, manufacturer, basically number one in doing this, they keep up with growing technology as it is the comfortable positive attraction for the customer.

A hospital that I have seen that has one of the best services provided for patients is Asian Hospital. Though it is quite costly, patients are paying for both the excellent service as well as the pampering found in high-end hotels.

“The majority of hospitals that I see on Twitter use it as a way to distribute their latest news releases, or updates to their website. Maybe they are using tools such as Twitterfeed (which automates RSS feeds to populate a Twitter stream). These Twitter-feeds are designed exclusively as a way to drive interest to the hospital itself.”¹ Patients that follow there favorite or many hospitals and health centers can quickly see updates; the hospital could also twitter the doctor’s availability.

A brief history on the use of Information technology is that “in the 1970s, using the CD 3200 computer, he developed a hospital information system named HELP (Health Evaluation through Logical Processing), which collected extensive patient data. The system eventually grew to incorporate information from various parts of the hospital-laboratory results, pharmacy prescriptions, nursing care plans, surgery schedules, and accounting-thus creating one of the first integrated clinical systems. This integrative approach to organizing and storing patient information gave health professionals access to the totality of records in one system, which supported their decision making.”² Even during the 1970s Information Technology was already beneficial to the hospitals and health centers.

References:

1. http://hospitalonlinemarketingeducation.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-are-hospitals-using

2. http://medicineworld.org/cancer/lead/4-2006/use-of-information-technology-in-hospitals.html