Essay Sample on Application of Information Technology in San Antonio University Hospital

Introduction

The University Hospital is one the best teaching hospitals in Texas by both the US News and World Report. Being the premier Level 1 trauma center in Texas and San Antonio area, the hospital is always listed as the leader in advanced treatment options, new and improved technologies and advanced clinical researches (University Health System, 2019). During my working period as a volunteer in the hospital, I realized the extent of the hospital's advancement in its technical practices and service provision. Year after year, the implementation of an effective information technology system has been its main objective. Besides concentrating on Level 1 trauma department, the hospital also specializes in services related to Neuroscience, heart and vascular treatments, pediatrics, transplants, pregnancy and childbirth, and liver cancer and tumors treatment to name a few 9 University Health System, 2019). Therefore, Information technology plays a key and important role in providing these treatments and other additional departments of The University Hospital like finance, accounting, administration, record keeping, communication etc. The use of information technology has certainly proved to cause increased and improved patient care and safety and improve the efficiency of the services offered (University Health System, 2012).

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For instance, a hospital scanner uses either computerized axial tomography (CAT) or a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to take pictures of the patient's body. The two machines produce definite images of the body organs which can be viewed in three-dimension by the physicians. Through these images, the doctors provide effective solution, treatments and care for the patient until their complete recovery. Additionally, the hospital uses technology to provide life support for a patient in the ICU or in critical danger. These life support machines are programmed to effectively respond to a patient's change in health/status in a period of split-second which reduces the response of the doctors as well as the risk of human error. All of these machines have the capability of evaluating and analyzing results and changes in blood pressure/flow, heart rates, medication amounts, brain activity, and fluid and chemical concentration in the body. Generally, in areas like accounting, finance, purchase and customer relations, information technology has helped various hospitals become effective when receiving payments from customers, billing payments to employees, customer connection and communication, increased employee intelligence and skill improvement (Rezaei, 2012), purchase of products like drugs, needles and injections, lab chemical and other essentials of the hospital. During my volunteer period, I realized the use of the following technology applications in the hospitals. On the other hand, I observed the benefits and challenges that were associated with the use of the technologies as well.

Examples of applications used in the University hospital include:

• Infection detecting technology; responsible for determining the kind and level of problem in the hospital
• Healthcare staffing management technology which helps the hospital in scheduling and distributing its employees whenever required according to their specialization
• Social media like Twitter and Facebook which helps the hospital connect with its customers and advertise itself to potential customers
• Patient-friendly technologies like master patient index and central scheduling that offer more comfort to the patients hence winning their loyalty
• Tablets, smartphones, and other applications which help the physicians keep in contact with their patients at all times and determine the patient's health status
• Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology which helps the physicians revisit the patient's health history and their progress
• Other technologies are Ultrasound Imaging devices, those that relate to offering access to lab results and medical imaging and those that convert smart devices into medical devices.

Benefits

Improvement and efficiency of hospital departments. Example the health staffing management technology has helped the management to distribute the employees effectively and utilize them to their maximum potential.

• Patient flow optimization through the use of patient-friendly technologies
• Improvement of communications among hospital staff
• Enabled protection of patient data
• Improved service provision, care, and safety of patients (University Health System, 2012)

Challenges

• High purchase and implementation costs of the technologies
• Lack of effective training for the users of the technologies
• Inadequate funding

In other words, the University hospital has always been at per with technological advancement that can contribute to better service provision and better patent treatment and safety. Therefore, information technology is an essential tool for the hospital because it contributes to more than 70% of the hospital's success and competitiveness in the industry.

References

University Health System. About University Health System. (2019, Jan 17th). Retrieved from: https://www.universityhealthsystem.com/about-us

University Health System. University Health System Named 2012 "Most Wired" Hospital. (2012, July 11th). Retrieved from https://www.universityhealthsystem.com/news/2012/07/named-most-wired-hospitalRezaei, Hamid. "The application of information technology and its relationship with organizational intelligence." Procedia Technology 1 (2012): 94-97.