ABSTRACT
This study focused on ICT application in Health Information Management section, Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu. A simple random sampling technique was employed for the selection of respondent for the study. A total of Seventy eight (78) respondents across the department were randomly selected for the study. The reliability test of the instrument shows a (α=0.9 for staff level of awareness of technology use in health information management practices), (α=0.8 for areas of technology application in health information practice).The findings showed that majority of the of the respondent had good knowledge of technology use in health information practices and the need for its application in the day to day administration of the hospital activities.
The finding shows area of ICT application which includes: coding and indexing of clinical diagnosis, maintenance and records keeping, information processing and decision making and reduction of medical cost. The findings also showed that majority of the respondents (80.8%) identified barriers such as: Poor internet availability, inadequate funding, erratic power supply and ICT illiteracy as factors militating against ICT used in Health Information Management section of OOUTH.
From the findings of the study, it is evidence that technology application in health information management department cannot be overemphasized in this technology age, the study showed that information and communication technology (ICT) is required for information processing in particular the use of electronic health records system and computer software to convert, store, process, transmit and retrieve information. The study revealed that technology has the potential of enhancing job satisfaction of health information management professionals.
The study concluded that ICT has the potential of enhancing job satisfaction of health management professionals.
The study recommended that the staff in the department should be trained on how to make better use of their ICT infrastructures particularly electronic health records system.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Health is an essential component of development, vital to a nation's economic growth and internal stability. Health is a fundamental human right as recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948). The discipline of Health Information Management (HIM) is a fast - growing field that combines the activities of medicine, management, finance, information technology, and law. Over the years, the role of health information management professionals has been to collect, validate, code, maintain, and make accessible the health data that doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers rely on to deliver quality healthcare (AHIMA, 2008) Health Information Management professionals have expertise in managing patient health information, administering computer information systems, protecting patient privacy, and coding diagnoses and procedures for healthcare services provided to patients. Health information technology (HIT) professionals focus on the technical side of managing patient health data. They are experts in the planning, implementation, and maintenance of the software and hardware systems that healthcare professionals use to capture, manage, and store health data.
Today, new technology and regulations are significantly changing the health information management practice. The transition from paper to electronic health records (EHRs) is spurring the creation of vast health data repositories that have never existed before thereby making the discipline a technology bases field of study. Technology is the collection of techniques, skills, methods and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation. Technology can be the knowledge of techniques, processes, etc. or it can be embedded in machines, computers, devices and factories, which can be operated by individuals without detailed knowledge of the workings of such things. Health information technology (HIT) is being sought as one of the key elements to streamline the process of providing healthcare to improve quality and harness cost. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (a provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) defines health information technology as “hardware, software, integrated technologies or related licenses, intellectual property, upgrades, or packaged solutions sold as services that are designed for or support the use by health care entities or patients for the electronic creation, maintenance, access, or exchange of health information.
Health information technology is the basis for a more patient-centred and evidence-based medicine with the real-time availability of high-quality information. Hence, despite the various interpretations of the scope of health information technology all healthcare stakeholders agree that it is the premise on which a 21st-century healthcare system. Health information technology (HIT) consists of set of technologies with a great diversion for transmitting and managing health care data for all stakeholders’ use. Stakeholders of health information include payer, providers, insurers, and all other groups with an interest in health and health care. HIT is the use of computer in the form of physician digital assistance, electronic health records, computerized physician order entry system by doctors, patients, hospitals, laboratories, x-ray facilities and all other stake holders. Health information technology is very important part of constantly changing environment of health care system. With the use of HIT health related information can be communicated well and can be used in evidence based decision making process (Wikipedia 2006).
Benefits of HIT include reduce paper work in hospital environment which results in reducing medical errors, decrease need for repeating medical tests which effects in reducing health care cost. Evidence based practice play a key role in efficient health information system quality, outcome and efficiency of health. Health care system can be improved by having timely and accurate information for evidence based decisions at all levels. Proactive uses of information technology in health sector empower consumers of health services as they can easily access health information as well as decision tool and by use of HIT health professionals can collaborate more easily when distance is a major factor. (Wikipedia 2006).
The quality of health care is ultimately judged by the impact of specific health services on the patient’s health information. Improving quality involves identifying and using health Services that, when properly executed, produce the greatest improvement in health status. The most direct contribution that information technology can make to improve the quality of health care is to provide the clinician with better information about the patient and health problem at hand and alternative tests and treatments for that problem, preferably at the point of care. This would enable clinicians to choose more effective services more quickly and help them avoid potentially tragic errors. The most relevant technology use in health care include: electronic patient records, structured data entry, advanced human-computer interface technologies, portable computers, automated capture of data from diagnostic and monitoring equipment, relational databases with online query (key-word search and retrieval), knowledge-based computing, and computer networks. Areas of technology application includes:
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Health information management is not a new thought. In fact, it is a profession that run parallel with the practice of medicine. Hitherto, the science and art of health information management in Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH) Sagamu, Ogun State. The manual way of managing health information has greatly influenced the efficiency and the effectiveness of the concerned department which has contributed to its low level of acceptability and recognition. Thus, the current study seeks to investigate the level of technology application in OOUTH health information management practice and how this has contributed to effective health care delivery in the hospital. It is expected that the outcome of this study will contribute to existing literature and practice of health information management.
The main focus of this study is to examine the significance of ICT application in the management of health information practice. This was achieved by means of the following specific objectives which are set to:
i. Examine the level of ICT use in health information practice among staff of health information management department in OOUTH
ii. Investigate areas of technology application in health information management practice
iii. Find out the barriers militating technology application in health information management in OOUTH
1.4 Research Questions
This research will provides answer to the following questions:
i. What are the areas that technology can be applied in Health Information Management of OOUTH health information management department?
ii. What is the level of Technology use in Health Information Management Practices of health information management department in OOUTH?
iii. What are the barriers to the application of ICT in Health Information Management Practices in OOUTH?
1.5 Significance of the Study
The findings from this research will benefit to a great extent all the stakeholders of health information including tax payers, health providers, health insurers, and all other groups with an interest in health and health care. The outcome will open the eyes of health manager to put up patient-centred and evidence-based medicine with the real-time availability of high-quality information.
Abiding with the outcome and recommendations of this research will make healthcare stakeholders operate within the purview and premise on which a 21st-century healthcare system is based. The findings will also provide basis for great diversion for transmitting and managing health care data for all stakeholders’ use. The outcome of this study will encourage and assist the health provider metamorphosing into paperless health information practice which could have the attending merits of promoting quality healthcare, reduce cost and enhance proper documentation, storage, and filing, fast and comprehensive accessibility of patient information.
1.6 Scope of the Study
This study focused on technology application in Health Information Management Depatrment in Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu.
1.7 Definition of Terms
Health Information: This is an information about a patient’s medical condition or medical history patient’s name, medical information, medical record number, billing information, insurance information, email address, phone number, mailing address, birth date, text or emails from or to patients, and text or emails to or from providers and other professionals that can be used to identify a patient.
Health Information Management: This is the act of managing patient health information, administering computer information systems in such a way as to protect patient privacy.
Health Information Technology (HIT): this is the device or tool that supports health information management across computerized systems and the secure exchange of health information between consumers, providers, payers, and quality monitors.
Health Information Management professionals: These are the experts in managing patient health information, administering computer information systems, protecting patient privacy, and coding diagnoses and procedures for healthcare services provided to patients.
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Item Type: Project Material | Size: 41 pages | Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word | Delivery: Within 30Mins.
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