M8 Health Information Technology Paper

Identify a problem in health care in which health information technology was used to improve care and/or outcomes.

In your paper,
describe the problem and include background information of quality of care and/or outcomes of the problem prior to integration with health information technology,
discuss three of the health information technologies implemented and how they afforded opportunities to improve quality,
evaluate any methodologies and/or measure tools used,
discuss whether the inclusion of health information technology is incorporated into a continuous quality plan or whether such a technology is still being researched, and
describe future opportunities for blending health information technology with the described or related healthcare problem.
Support your discussion with at least three scholarly sources. Be sure to reference any tool(s) included.

This paper should be 3-4 pages, not including the title and references pages, and should follow APA guidelines.

ANSWER

M8 Health Information Technology Paper

One of the major problems facing the healthcare industry today is missed appointments. This is especially in mental healthcare. Missed appointments affect the patients, healthcare providers, facilities, and families. Other factors that have led to the increase in the number of missed appointments include the rise in the number of infectious diseases such as the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a study carried out by Adepoju et al. (2022), there is no evidence telemedicine has an impact on the number of missed appointments. Their study focused on studying the impact of telemedicine on reducing the number of missed appointments. Telemedicine is a technology that allows video or phone appointments between patients and their healthcare providers. Missed appointments have been associated with fear and anxiety surrounding appointments, transportation-related issues, forgetfulness, and miscommunication with clinic staff. In the study by Adepoju et al. (2022), the odds of missing telemedicine appointments were significantly lower than those of in-person appointments.

Some of the causes of missed appointments include lack of transportation, especially for patients who are in remote areas. Some patients who live in remote areas do not have easy access to hospitals, leading to them missing their doctor’s appointments, which can lead to the patient missing an important appointment (Adepoju et al., 2022). Some patients, especially those seeking mental health, do not want to disclose their health conditions to their employers and their family members because of the fear of prejudice and the loss of their jobs due to their mental health conditions. All these factors reduce the quality of care provided to the patients, as when they miss their appointments, they lose a chance to get quality care from their providers (Derup et al., 2021). This situation can, however, be remedied through the use of telemedicine. Patients can attend their appointments through video calls. Telemedicine is enabled by telehealth which is the abuse of digital technologies to manage one’s healthcare.

Telemedicine does not only help healthcare providers and patients to attend their appointments. Telehealth helps patients schedule their appointments when they are comfortable without wasting going to the hospital. Doctors can also prescribe medication using E-prescription, and the patients will get their prescription in the nearest pharmacy. With telemedicine, doctors can also communicate with other healthcare providers, such as pharmacists, about their patient’s allergies and the medication that best suits them (Derup et al., 2021). Telemedicine helps solve missed appointments, and it also helps reduce the number of medication errors and wrong prescriptions.

Health information technology, such as telemedicine, offers numerous opportunities for improving healthcare outcomes and improving the quality of care provided. Some patients miss their appointments because they have mental health issues such as asocial anxiety and cannot stand having to travel from home to the hospital or meet other people. Telemedicine can help such patients who often miss their appointments, but with telemedicine, the patient can virtually attend their appointment (Mayo Clinic). Telemedicine enables patients to openly talk to their physician in the comfort of their home or at work. Some patients are scared of asking for time off work to attend hospital appointments as they feel this might negatively affect them. Telemedicine helps the patients to attend their appointments during their breaks. This improves patient outcomes as they can attend their appointments and still maintain a good track record at work.

Missed appointments are also a result of factors such as forgetfulness. Some patients forget that they have appointments, and putting into consideration that people are living busy lives; it is easy to forget that one had a doctor’s appointment. Missed appointments reduce the quality of care; thus, another method of improving healthcare is sending shirt phone reminders. Electronic health records ensure that the doctors have their patient’s information in one place. This means that hospitals can develop systems where patients receive reminder notifications when they have appointments (Mayo clinic). Hospitals can create automated messages sent to the patient a day before their appointment to remind them of the appointment, which might help reduce the number of missed appointments. Text message communication is an effective method of ensuring that there are fewer missed appointments and that patient outcomes keep improving.

There are many causes of missed appointments. Some of the patients miss appointments because they do not have insurance or because they do not have the money to attend the appointment. Some of these reasons cannot be solved with health information technology, but there are others, such as missed appointments as a result of forgetfulness and lack of transportation can be solved using information technology. Telehealth and electronic health records are the heat technologies that can contribute to reducing the number of missed appointments. A lot of money is lost in the healthcare industry as a result of missed appointments. Virtual appointments and message notifications can help patients who miss their appointments because they forgot or because they could np tatted the appointment for one reason or the next. Telemedicine is an effective tool in ensuring that patients are satisfied with the services they get. It also saves them time, and they do not have to waste their day going to the hospital as they can attend their appointment virtually.

References

Adepoju, O. E., Chae, M., Liaw, W., Angelocci, T., Millard, P., & Matuk-Villazon, O. (2022). Transition to telemedicine and its impact on missed appointments in community-based clinics. Annals of medicine, 54(1), 98-107.

Drerup, B., Espenschied, J., Wiedemer, J., & Hamilton, L. (2021). Reduced no-show rates and sustained patient satisfaction of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Telemedicine and e-Health, 27(12), 1409-1415.

Mayo clinic. Telehealth: Technology meets health care. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/consumer-health/in-depth/telehealth/art-20044878#:~:text=What%20is%20telehealth%3F,technology%20you%20use%20from%20home.