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Using a healthcare information system can help an organization manage costs and improve the quality of care for patients. A health information system is capable of recording, storing and transferring information to healthcare professionals within a network to better coordinate operational procedures.

But all healthcare technology has its drawbacks, and no system is adopted without facing some opposition. Researchers are constantly studying these issues in pursuit of successful healthcare operation. The following subject areas are just a few of the hot topics in health technology research. Interested in learning more? Health Ed Solutions provides additional health education research resources.

Minimizing medical errors

One major focus of research regarding healthcare information system use is its effect on quality of care. Recent studies have shown that information systems can be beneficial in the minimization of medical errors.

Medical errors increase patient length of stay, increase healthcare costs and in many cases can lead to fatalities. Information systems can be used to improve the quality of patient treatment by highlighting and monitoring errors within the continuum of care.

• Research has shown that information system automation, in partnership with medical training, can help reduce interpretive errors in patient care (but not procedural errors).
• Automation does have an influence on agents’ behavior, as it serves as a record for their actions, and therefore encourages them to act in the interests of the principal.

Privacy issues

The digitization of patient information can be very beneficial to healthcare, but research has shown the importance of understanding how individuals feel about sharing information in an electronic format.

While a health information system can be made secure, electronic storage is sometimes perceived as having a higher likelihood of leakage than paper records. Patients may perceive the probability of loss of privacy to be much higher than it actually is.

Research has shed some light on what factors affect an individual’s willingness to disclose information.

• Individuals are less willing to provide personal information when the request comes from government or public health agencies (as opposed to hospitals or pharmaceutical companies).
• Individuals also showed higher levels of trust when providing information to nonprofit hospitals with electronic health systems (as opposed to government and for-profit organizations).
• Patients who feel sad, anxious or angry about their health status are more willing to provide their information, and therefore may be more likely to fall victim to misuse of personal information.

Willingness to adopt a healthcare information system

The adoption of a healthcare information system can be greatly affected by the physicians and other influential parties who may or may not resist new technology. The hierarchal nature of healthcare suggests that if a physician or nurse who is an influential leader rejects the adoption of a new technology, it is likely that other professionals within their area will follow suit.

Research on the matter has shown that electronic healthcare information systems have a positive effect on the quality of care, but in-group ties among doctors and out-group ties to doctors have a negative effect on the use of healthcare technology, which suggests that doctors may halt the adoption of new systems. This can lead to a lower quality of care and more medical errors.

Unity in diversity

Depending on their needs, patients are sometimes treated by specialists from different medical teams. Multidisiplinary care requires information to be shared among multiple individuals, each of which may interact with an information system in different ways. But research has shown that there is unity in diversity.

In a study that examined a cancer center in England, researchers monitored healthcare professionals’ use of a new electronic health information system. The team consisted of an oncologist, a radiologist, a pathologist, a surgeon and specialist nurses.

While the individuals used the system in different ways – some were more hesitant to use it at all, some preferred to add narratives rather than just fill in tick marks etc. – all team members were able to coordinate their use of the system to facilitate quality care for patients.

Health Ed Solutions

Health Ed Solutions is an online resource for healthcare professionals that provides certification courses including ACLS and PALS. For more health education research resources, go to healthedsolutions.com.