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The health problem of Health Information Technology has been witnessed in rural Ohio in the recent past. In this case, there has been poor management of the health information in most rural health centers in rural Ohio; thus raising a potential threat to the health and lives of the natives. In this regard, the quality, efficiency, and safety of health delivery system has been compromised. Most of the patients being referred to these rural health centers have ended up not being attended of experienced a lot of delays in the processes of being served. An issue of major concern has also been raised on the deaths being recorded in these rural areas and more so from minor health complications. With the current problems in the health systems, it has been difficult to improve health care quality alongside preventing minor medical errors. With this information crisis in rural Ohio, the cost of health care has remained very high. On the other hand, there is a lot of paper work with the old information handling and administrative inefficiencies (Barlet, 2004).
Most of the rural health centers in rural Ohio do not incorporate modern technology in recording patients’ information. This scenario leads to a lot of delays as well as lack of offering the correct treatment. Frequent loss of information regarding the patients is being experienced in most hospitals and health centers in the rural areas thus raising a health alarm. Significantly, the poor methods of health information technology have led failures in timely detection of infectious diseases. The aspect of tracking and coming with solutions for chronic diseases has also been difficult. Lack of government initiative and funding in curbing the problem has been attributed to this crosses (RAC, 2010).
Health Information Technology Problem in rural Ohio
In rural Ohio, the incorporation of modern technology in the health care system has been neglected. It has been evident that, most of the healthcare centers are still struggling with ancient information management methods. All information regarding patients and other medical procedures are recorded in paper. With this aspect, there are a lot of inconveniences in retrieving and recording patients’ information thus leading to delays. There have been many problems associated with this outdated methods of information systems. Some of the major problems of the poor information systems as Follows:
Firstly, there has been a serious problem in health information exchange to the various stakeholders and interested groups. For instance, the government has not been able to get the real statistics of the health problems of the people of Ohio. With the paperwork information system, it has been very difficult for the government to have a concrete analysis of the real health issues affecting the people of Ohio. This has been so due to the difficulties in analyzing written information as well as the cases of lost information. It is further noted that, the poor health information systems has led to wastage of time in retrieving the required information thus leading to failures in timely action by the government (Barlet, 2004).
On another perspective, insurers and quality entities have experienced a lot of problems in accessing patients’ information. This is because; the storing of hard data consumes a lot of space and time thus difficult to retrieve it back. With this in mind, the insurers or quality entities have not been able to act in time thus leading to more problems to the patients. It should be noted that, this health problem has been very intense in the rural Ohio thus leading to rising up of other medical problems which would have other wise been dealt with (RAC, 2010).
To begin with, the poor health information system has led to lack of safety, quality and efficiency in health delivery system. As earlier noted modern technology has not been incorporated in the health care system in Ohio; thus leading to many problems in the health delivery system. The issue of inefficiency has been devastating since it has gone to the extent of causing deaths to patients which would have otherwise been prevented. In relation with this case, nurses and other medical practitioners in the health centers are not able to retrieve patients’ data in time thus causing a lot of delays. In case of chronic diseases, earlier records are very essential in deciding the medical procedures to be undertaken. The failure of efficiency in these emergent scenarios will obviously lead to death or worsening of the patient’s conditions (RAC, 2010).
The issues of quality and safety have also been compromised by the lack of adopting the proper health information technology. With the adoption of modern technology in recording patient’s information and that of medical procedures, it will be possible for the health attendants to know earlier procedures and be able to judge their level of accuracy and efficiency. This will help in undertaking efficient and safe procedures on the patients; thus enhancing their safety and health. The present phenomenon of paper work information system, some of the most of the information is not easily retrieved; whereby it leads to delays and ultimately risks the life of the patient (RAC, 2010).
The use of information technology also facilitates the medical procedures in that the nurses can easily go through the instructions; thus being able to provide quality services.
In the rural health centers of Ohio, many medical errors are constantly being reported. This scenario has led to the loss of many lives and worsened the health status of many individuals. Some of the errors include wrong prescription of the medicine alongside wrong medical procedures in treating various diseases. This issue has been worsened by the poor technologies adopted in the information system. Based on this phenomenon, some of the nurses may find it hard to retrieve vital information required for administering treatment; thus leading to assumptions. By so doing, they end up messing the whole process thus risking the lives of the patients (Barlet, 2004).
In the rural areas of Ohio, there have been difficulties in detecting outbreak of infectious. This situation has been so due to the unavailability of efficient disease analysis methods alongside the lack of sufficient data. Many diseases like cholera have severally cropped up in the rural areas with no timely detection or prevention. These failures are attributed to poor technologies adopted in most of the health centers. Without health information technology, it has been very difficulty to analyze the health problems being reported. In a situation where modern technology is utilized, analysis and prediction of disease outbreak will be possible. With these facts, the lives of the residents of Rural Ohio is being put at jeopardy thus the need for immediate action (Gillespie, 2010).
Poor methods of data recording and retrieving have made it difficult to track chronic diseases among the patients. This issue has cropped up since the nurses are not able to relate the current conditions of the patients with the past conditions. Most of the people have ended up suffering since their medical conditions are not properly analyzed; thus leading to wrong treatments. With the adoption of health information technology, the nurses will be able to adequately analyze the patients’ health conditions and come up with concrete conclusions. By so doing, cases of chronic diseases will be easily monitored and the right medication offered (Gillespie, 2010).
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