Health Information Security at a Large Hospital
As a director for health information in large hospitals, I have come to appreciate how delicate health information is. Health information should be stored in a safe and secure to retrieve manners. All files should be kept in confidence such that the data is not allowed to leak to unauthorized persons. In large hospitals, there is a need to have a well-organized system since the data in a large hospital is also significant. The use of information technology (IT) in storing and retrieving this data is also necessary. IT makes it easy to store large amounts of data and to retrieve this data accurately. Large hospitals need to keep on updating their systems so that they can improve their services for better information storage and retrieval.
Policies Covering Data Security
Several policies have been put in place to cover data security at the hospital. These data policies have played a massive role in ensuring the safety of the data. The first policy has to do with data audits. The hospital detects unauthorized access to data through electronic health records. This policy ensures that only the people authorized to access the data access to the data. In case of any unauthorized access, the bleach is notified to the hospital’s authorities and IT teams. The hospital also maintains a high culture of accountability and responsibility, which helps the authorized personnel not to tamper with the data.
The other data policy is about data recovery. The hospital has proper data backup strategies. The most efficient one is cloud data backup. This policy ensures that even if something unexpected happens and the data is lost, it is quickly recovered through the cloud back up. The use of passwords is another policy that is used to ensure that information is not safe at the hospital. These policies are useful, and they play a vital role in ensuring data security.
These policies are good, but they would be better with a little improvement. The audit policy needs to be made more advanced. There should be an activity tracker. This tracker should be used to track activities for authorized persons (Danezis et al., 2015). This tracking would ensure that the authorized persons also act with integrity. The cloud data backup needs to be made more secure and safe from online predators. Several measures need to be put in place to prevent online stored data from being hacked. The use of passwords for access is not enough. A more secure system needs to be put in place, like the use of fingerprints (Danezis et al., 2015). This will ensure total data security.
System Capabilities to Meet Regulatory measures
The hospital’s system has played a massive part in trying to meet the recommendations by The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA). The hospital has an audit system that ensures that the data stored is not altered with is accessed by unauthorized personnel. The system also ensures that data is backed up for security as recommended by HIPPA (Hassan et al., 2007). The hospital has played a role in ensuring that the information is safe and confidential. However, the hospital still has a huge role to play in strengthening its policies and systems. The hospital needs to adjust its network to ensure that authorized people do not misuse data, passwords, and that the backed up data is safe online.
Human Factors and User Interface Design of Health Information Technologies
Several human factors arise from the user interface of information technologies. The first human factor is the speed of data collection and recording. When the data collection and recording is slow in a large hospital, it causes delay. The second human factor is the accuracy of the information recorded. And finally is the completeness of the data recorded on the information technologies. When recording the data, some patient details may go unrecorded. These human errors can be eradicated by using a voice detecting technology to collect and record data. A voice recording device can be faster at collecting patient information without emitting any essential details and ensuring that the information offered is accurate.
Evaluation of Health Information System
The data design of the hospital is at three levels. These three levels do not provide more provisions for additional data. This is a significant challenge that needs to be looked at. The hospital needs to develop a more advanced data design with more levels. Each data level should give provisions for storing additional data (Muji et al., 2009). The hospital uses an enterprise model for data warehousing. With this model, all the data is compressed into one massive data storage. This storage causes delays when it comes to data retrieval. The solution to this challenge would be switching to data marts warehousing. This kind of warehousing data is stored in different storage.
Development of Information Management Plans
Several issues within the hospital may face the plans of the company in changing and improving the information management. The first issue is on management issues to do with budgeting. The proposed changes require money, which should be approved by the control of the hospital. The second issue is about technical systems. These systems are like hardware that needs to be incorporated too. Personnel issues also need to be thought about too. These personnel issues are like the need to have more people to assist in the application of technology and training the people working in the hospital how to handle the technology.
Challenges in System Development
Several challenges arise in the implementation process. Implementation of HIEs is likely to be faced by problems like contradictory ideas, the use of different assorted software and hardware, and the availability of various communication models. EHRs implementation’s first challenge is resistance from employees since it is a bit challenging to use, the data migration process may also take a long time, and it might result in reduced productivity at first (Luehlfing, 2017). The major challenge in the implementation of RECs is the lack of regional cooperation. These are the challenges that are likely to be faced in the implementation process.
Health Informatics
Health informatics is necessary for a hospital. It is a process in which health information and knowledge are integrated using IT to offer the patient better services. Informatics has played a massive role in society to ensure that patients get better services and that more knowledge is enhanced. Informatics in the medical industry has contributed by increasing patient participation, saving costs, shared knowledge and information, and improved coordination.
Conclusion
The process of changing the health information system in a hospital may be difficult, expensive, and faced by numerous challenges. This, however, should not stop the process from happening. As the hospital gets bigger, the more the data it accumulates, and the more it will require more efficient data storage systems. Hospitals Information system departments should do all they can to mend the loopholes in their information systems. Data storage is an essential part of a hospital that should be done to perfection. All hospitals, whether big, all small, should follow the regulations that have been put in place regarding information policies.
References
Danezis, G., Domingo-Ferrer, J., Hansen, M., Hoepman, J. H., Metayer, D. L., Tirtea, R., & Schiffner, S. (2015). Privacy and data protection by design-from policy to engineering. arXiv preprint arXiv:1501.03726.
Hasan, R., Winslett, M., & Sion, R. (2007, September). Requirements for Secure Storage systems for healthcare records. In Workshop on Secure Data Management (pp. 174-180). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Luehlfing, M. E. (2017). Investigating Barriers to Increased Use of Electronic Health Records in Rural Mississippi Hospitals (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Mississippi Medical Center).
Muji, M., Ciupa, R. V., Dobru, D., Bica, C., Olah, P., Bacarea, V., & Marusteri, M. (2009). Database design patterns for healthcare information systems. In International Conference on Advancements of Medicine and Health Care Through Technology (pp. 63-66). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.