Week 8 dq1
In the contemporary world, technology is advancing at high pace, and this has enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of various sectors such as communication, health, production, transportation, among other sectors. In the health sector, database systems can be integrated in such a way that health professionals, patients, medical researchers, and medical institutions can share health information within much greater speed, security, and ease.
However, this ideal cycle of health information can be facilitated through the aspect of embracing interoperability (Desourdis, 2009). This entails the ability of health information systems to work harmoniously within and across the boundaries of a health care facility in order to facilitate effective delivery of health care services to individuals and communities as a whole.
Benefits and Challenges
This integration of health care systems numerous benefits as well as challenges. For example, it facilitates better access of patients` health information. In most cases, patients seek health care services from different sources including hospitals, pharmacies, physician practices, and urgent care centers, and this fragments his or her health information to an extent that a health physician cannot access the health information that was documented by another physician (Iron Mountain, 2015). Integration of health information would enable health providers to have full access to patients` health information that has been stored in various IT storage systems.
On the other hand, integrating health information through interoperability requires all health care organizations to agree upon a number of standards. In some cases, these standards can be general, and this can result to multiple interpretations of medical data, leading to the occurrence of serious medical errors. In addition, there is likely hood of health physicians to use different terminologies to describe the same condition. This can also lead to misinterpretation of health data since different databases can work effectively if compatible terminologies and ontologies are used (Iron Mountain, 2015). However, there is need for the establishment of a standardized terminology implementation in the near future.
