ASS072-1 Introduction To Health And Social Care

Question: Discuss about the Importance of ICT in health and social care Answer: Importance Of ICT In Health And Social Care ICT can be defined in the very basic sense as the variety of different tools and services that improve and facilitate sharing information and communication among the health care professionals and the patients and their family members (George, Whitehouse and Duquenoy 2012). Along with that, it has to be mentioned that the applicative benefits of ICT extends further to allowing the health care professionals to continuously build their competency and educational capacity in order to be able to access educational journals from all over the world. According to the Lindberg et al. (2013), ICT has become one of the most integral components of healthcare industry that has enhanced the efficiency of both delivering safe and effective care but also enhancing the accessibility of the health care services for varied patient populations. There are various different types of ICT devices that have been introduced in the health care industry, and each one of them have a significant impact on improving the health care delivery. Different Types Of ICT Devices Used In Health Electronic Health Records (EHR): One of the greatest achievements that the application of ICT has bestowed on the health care industry is the introduction of the EHRs. These are nothing but electronic version of the paper handover charts for the patients. However, the benefit of using the EHRs instead of regular paper handover charts is the fact that the EHRs are real time and these are much more secure format that is instantly available for the care providers and can only be accessed by authorized users (Shortliffe and Cimino 2013). Radio Imaging Devices: The radio imaging devices are the services that provide a varied range of imaging techniques that provide different diagnostic measures such as the X-ray, mammography, computed tomography scans that has eased the diagnostic procedures effectively. Barcode Scanning Technology: The introduction of barcode scanning procedure has been another technological break-through in the health care industry which has reduced the emergency room triage time by automatically updating the patient profile by just scanning the barcode and commencing with the required treatment (King et al. 2012). Benefits Of ICT Application In Health And Social Care From users’ perspective: One of the greatest benefits of the application of the information and communication technology is the introduction of personal health records, an extension of the broad concept of eHealth which helps in the patients being able to access their personal health records, disease state, treatment progress, and even diagnostic results easily and instantaneously (Antheunis, Tates and Nieboer 2013). Telemedicine or the technology of remote diagnosis and treatment of the patients with the help or telecommunication and video imaging technology has eradicated the health care accessibility for the patents from remote locations with limited health care coverage. Along with that, it has to be mentioned in this context that the incorporation of telemedicine has eradicated the need for the elderly, frail, or critically ill and mobility restricted patients to be going for follow ups and checkups. The aid of text messages and the emails connected with the personal health record services for the patient has also helped in enhancing the follow up attendance of the patients and by constant reminders of checkups and visits to the facility (Haluza and Jungwirth 2014). The introduction of the ICT in the health and social care context has also helped the patients in adapting the aid of self-monitoring and self-care with the aid of health buddy system and resources available on the internet apps. From The Care Worker’s Perspective: The first and foremost benefit of the ICT implementation that has to be discussed for the perspective of the care workers is the benefits provided by the use of the EHRs. It has to be mentioned that most of the medical errors that has the potential of harming the patients have been associated with the paper based records (Jimoh et al. 2012). The use of electronic health records has eliminated the risk of misinterpretation and errors with clinical judgment by introducing a fully automated and internet linked recording services which can only be accessed by the authorized users eliminating the risk of loss of confidentiality. Along with that it has to be mentioned that another very common source of reduced care quality has been the lack of adequate patient centred care delivery. The advanced technologies provided by the ICT implementation has helped in the quick identification of the patient and prompt care initiation. The introduction of the ICT has also improved the teamwork and co-operation among the health care workers eliminating the possibility of conflict or misunderstanding with electronic and automated services. Lastly, the ICT devices are a potent tool for implementing and enhancing the effectiveness of the evidence based practice by enhancing the accessibility of the educational resources (Hage et al. 2013). From Organization’s Perspective: Implementation of ICT has helped tremendously in enhancing the safety and effectiveness of the care that is provided to the patients and has also helped in meeting the quality benchmark set for the care facilities. It has effectively reduced the frequency of medication errors and other patient misidentification errors with the initiation of EHRs and barcode scanning devices (Shiferaw and Zolfo 2012). The introduction of the ICT devices in the health care industry has improved the transparency of the medical billing systems and has also helped the health care workers adhere to evidence based practice protocols in care planning and implementation procedure. It has helped in improving the spread of the health care services and has helped in carrying out distant consultation services, diagnosis and treatment with telemedicine (Hage et al. 2013). It has also strengthened the ability of the administrative departments of the health care facility to enhance the operational efficiency and monitoring processes. Legal Consideration Of ICT Implementation In Health And Social Care The personal health records or the EHRs contain confidential and private information of the patients which should not be disclosed in any circumstances under confidentiality protection acts. The internet database links of these records can be breached if certain protective measures are not taken; this is significant legal concern associated with ICT in health care. Another very important aspect associated with implementation of ICT in health and social care is the initiation of the internet pharmacy which has a heightened risk of confidentiality breach and liability issues as there is no proof of the pharmacist having a valid registration (Shiferaw and Zolfo 2012). The internet mediated contact servicers such as Email notification or text messages is another applicative benefit of the ICT implementation in the health care context. These records and information are also at risk of being breached which can be a significant legal risk to the facility as well. Along with that, lastly with the implementation of the information and communication technology is the link with social media as well. The breach of the personal medical information about the patient in any of the social media websites can be considered as a very important legal implication of the ICT and its link with the health and social care services (Kapadia et al. 2015). References: Antheunis, M.L., Tates, K. and Nieboer, T.E., 2013. Patients’ and health professionals’ use of social media in health care: motives, barriers, and expectations. Patient education and counseling, 92(3), pp.426-431. George, C., Whitehouse, D. and Duquenoy, P. eds., 2012. eHealth: legal, ethical and governance challenges. Springer Science & Business Media. Hage, E., Roo, J.P., van Offenbeek, M.A. and Boonstra, A., 2013. Implementation factors and their effect on e-Health service adoption in rural communities: a systematic literature review. BMC health services research, 13(1), p.19. Haluza, D. and Jungwirth, D., 2014. ICT and the future of health care: Aspects of doctor-patient communication. International journal of technology assessment in health care, 30(3), pp.298-305. Jimoh, L., Pate, M.A., Lin, L. and Schulman, K.A., 2012. A model for the adoption of ICT by health workers in Africa. International journal of medical informatics, 81(11), pp.773-781. Kapadia, V., Ariani, A., Li, J. and Ray, P.K., 2015. Emerging ICT implementation issues in aged care. International journal of medical informatics, 84(11), pp.892-900. King, G., O’Donnell, C., Boddy, D., Smith, F., Heaney, D. and Mair, F.S., 2012. Boundaries and e-health implementation in health and social care. BMC medical informatics and decision making, 12(1), p.100. Lindberg, B., Nilsson, C., Zotterman, D., Söderberg, S., and Skär, L. 2013. Using Information and Communication Technology in Home Care for Communication between Patients, Family Members, and Healthcare Professionals: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications, 2013, 461829. Shiferaw, F. and Zolfo, M., 2012. The role of information communication technology (ICT) towards universal health coverage: the first steps of a telemedicine project in Ethiopia. Global health action, 5(1), p.15638. Shortliffe, E.H., and Cimino, J.J. eds., 2013. Biomedical informatics: computer applications in health care and biomedicine. Springer Science & Business Media

ASS072-1 Introduction To Health And Social Care

Calculate the price
of
your order:

Basic features

On-demand options

Paper format

Guaranteed originality

Affordable prices

Best experts

Calculate the price of your order

Expert paper writers are just a few clicks away

ASS072-1 Introduction To Health And Social Care

Calculate the price of your order:

Basic features

On-demand options

Paper format

Guaranteed originality

Affordable prices

Best experts

Calculate the price of your order

Expert paper writers are just a few clicks away

Calculate the price
of
your order: