Free Research Paper Sample on Funding for Health Department

Introduction

The health department is one of the integral sectors in any administration. It involves ensuring that people and the constituents of any community receive quality health care from its government. The health system is led by one central ministry of health in many countries responsible for providing the government hospitals with equipment and staff. The purchase of those instruments is usually expensive, and thus there is a need for the government to fund the same. For instance, they purchase MRI machines, ensures the robs needed by doctors in surgery are provided, and also that the hospital staff is paid their salary since they are government employees. In all these, the keeping of information is another significant factor that cannot be hidden. Hospitals receive vast volumes of data from patients' ailments to record the staff that works in the hospital. Data quality management is essential as record keeping plays a vital role in hospital management and ensures that it is run in an organized manner.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Patient's History

In the past, there was no record-keeping or very minimum information on patients was recorded. Therefore, tracing a patient's history of treatment was close to difficult as there were no records to confirm the same. Sooner and with advancements in technology, hospitals embraced record-keeping to make their work easier and easily controllable. The embrace meant that there would be revolutions in how the hospital as an institution was going to be run, and the traditional professionals, too, were going to be affected. With time, there was a need to make the record-keeping process to be modern and more advanced. Thanks to the internet and even more technological advancement, that was made possible. With improved technology, there is a need to look at how the data is kept and how the quality is maintained. The willingness to do that gave birth to the thought of writing this literature review about how one can significant data quality is to the field of hospital information management and how to ensure and improve. However, before that, I must describe the revolution that has been made in record-keeping in the hospitals so that the current discussion is brought into perspective. The research method is a meta-analysis of the previously done research works and evaluates what might have been left out to be included in the quest to improve data quality management and its role in the hospital information management.

Health Information Management

Health information management is a serious issue that needs serious analysis and debates. Health information management is defined as the collection, the analyzation, storage, protection, and ensuring the quality of health data and information (Abdelhak et al., 2014). The information can either be paper-based, a combination of hybrid and paper, or fully electronic, also described as an electronic health record. The professionals working for HIM use advanced technology to perform their functions. Hence, they must have a vast pool of knowledge, which includes learning about the HIPAA laws that are responsible for the protection of patient confidentiality, the analysis of data collected, and how to employ the systems used in data collection. Another view of health information management is from this angle: a new set of data is generated every time a doctor examines a patient. That contributes significantly to the growth of the data volume in digital records collected by health caregivers daily. The integration of informatics into health care for the advancement of patient care and operations management is referred to as health information management. The knowledge gained is critical in all the decision-making processes, analytical processes, planning, and monitoring processes for mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery processes. It provides a basis for human coordination in both the health sector and other sectors. Health information management is used as a blanket definition to capture the several health-related information activities and variables which are done in support of the strategies laid down for assessing health situations, coordinating work, identifying gaps that need to be filled in response to health, and building a sound health care system for all.

Definition of Terms

Electronic patient record: It is a database that holds all the information about a patient. It has provisions for retrievals, which allow a health caregiver easier access to the information about a particular patient. It also has input functions where the caregiver can log in and collect as much information about a patient.

Patient Information System: This is a system fundamentally-oriented for a patient's and allows for access to the patient's information electronically. It may also contain channels of communication between one health care professional and another one.

Physician Order Entry: It is a system that allows health caregivers to order for additional tests, investigations into the patient's records, order for drugs, and other required services electronically. Results of the inquired processes are wired back through the electronic channel that was used, and the intermediate steps can easily be observed. These systems are instrumental in ensuring efficiency and, at the same time, minimizing errors that may arise due to miscommunication and illegible handwriting. Physical Order Entry is designed in such a state that it can fulfill the functions of the Electronic patient record. The reason behind that is because all the tests and results received are part of the patient's records.

Decision-Support Technique: It is a system that tries to better the decisions of medical professionals by offering salient advice to help them in their decision-making processes and also setting reminders and for proper time management. These systems can be built to resemble and handle the same work, such as the physical order entry and electronic patient records. The combinations provide a generalized protocol for doing procedures that are timed and alarms set to remind the health caregiver of any task that needs to be completed.

Medication system: It resembles a physical order entry but only deals with the patient's medication processes. It gives health caregivers the ability to overview a patient's condition and prescribe medication for them. It can check for any omissions, measure the dosages, patient interactions, and many other things. In different scenarios, it is fitted and integrated with an automatic dispensing system that allows patients to take their medication and may also come with an electronic medication administration help. An example of such a system could be a robot manufactured, which is patient-specific, pre-wrapped medication strips together with a barcode scanner with a device that is handled for the dispensation of medicine.

Hospital Information System: This is an integrated software in a hospital supporting a wide range of functions. It is constructed around a common database system and can support another range of systems, including radiology systems, lab systems, production and storage system, and the discharging process. It can also help the electronic patient record, the kitchen, and the pharmacy. They were at one time seen to be highly efficient, but they became obsolete with the new technology in the world. The hospital information systems can now be handled over a wide range of software which is specialized in single functions. From these, the best systems are linked to help with efficiency.

General Practitioner Information System: It is a stand-alone software built for one person. It is an electronic patient record with added functionality such as medication and administration with multitasking.

Data Warehouse: This is a database responsible for drawing information seen as relevant for management procedures from the root of PCIS.

Understanding Health Care Work

The attention being accorded to patient records is a new concept that has been introduced recently. The people engaged in medical work have been focusing on patient records for the more significant part of the twentieth century. It is essential to note the notable players who impacted the process and ensured that patient records became a success. They include the American Hospital Standardization Movement, which took part in developing and introducing patient records keeping. Lawrence Weed, who introduced problem-oriented forms in the 1960s, and other significant innovations were made. For the last about five decades, the electronic patient records have carried around the hope of transforming health care into a more efficient and effective service. The systems were introduced in other countries from the United States of America, and the development and success progress monitored.

The historical description has two main agendas. Firstly, it is to put the state of health care into a historical perception with some people considering introducing the electronic patient record as a significant change in medical reporting and record keeping. However, studies show that already in the twentieth century, standardization was seen as inevitable in the medical field and its practice. Also, the idea of a patient record, which consists of all the data about a particular patient, will be seen to be at least a century old as indicated by studies. The perspective brought forward shows that although the calls for standardizations are still being heard loudly, there is much to be done in patient record-keeping, which still appears to be a foreign concept (Berg, 2003).

Berg says that his historical excursion provides a mirror-like perspective of the new century where all the introductions were being made. It will help shape the current state of affairs into a more relatable perspective. He says that similar issues related to health were discussed at that time and that mirroring the current state compared to the 1900s will help the perception a big deal. There are critical questions to be asked and be answered in the quest to make sure everything falls into perspective. "What does it mean to radically change the practices of medical reporting, to introduce new systems for keeping records in health care, or to have aspirations of raising the effectiveness of medical work in such a way?" In the literature concerning medical practice, technology is seen as a neutral player and as one whose implementations may be done depending on favorable factors or be impeded by social factors. The view is called a standard view, and it influences how technology is viewed in the fields it plays as it is an autonomous and technical process. The practice's political and social implications are not considered in the methods in which the technology functions.

Conclusion

The World Health Organization has formulated the goals that spearhead the learning of Health information management. The staff at the World Health Organization services have sharpened skills in collection, analysis, interpretation, and the using of the health information to support their decision-making ventures for preparedness, the response, and recovery. Throughout this publication, it is essential to acknowledge the terms commonly used in the study.