Unit 2 Draft

Unit 2 Assignment Draft

Have you ever wondered if the future does more harm than good? Many wonders this when talking about controversial topics like did the iPhone make us more dependent on technology or did the new vacuum robots make us less responsible and lazy. Truth is nobody completely has the answer to whether technology in our lifetime has become a burden more than it has improved the world around us. That being one of the reasons as to why it is crucial to explore these grounds on the influence of the medical field. In recent years, medicine has become a popular candidate to where technological advancement is put to the test. These new discoveries that have helped healthcare informatics and medical procedures thrive to become more efficient and successful due to the input of technology.

The future of medicine has been constantly discussed in question if technology offers better results than it causes problems. When we talk about technology increasing efficiency in the medical field it does not mean make it easier for people to get medicine. In fact, increasing healthcare efficiency is the ability to make results less prone to human error with the use of technological information. In the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, professor Abha Agrawal of SUNY Brooklyn writes regarding medical errors and its preventions with use of technological intervention. According to his journal, “In the USA, medication errors are estimated to harm at least 1.5 million patients per year, with about 400,000 preventable adverse events?” (Agrawal). This demonstrates a severe number of people in the country that are affected due to medical errors administered by caretakers. People rely on doctors to be aware of every medical move they administer but this causes more harm as we can see from the statistics Agrawal mentions. In order to prevent the further loss of lives or near life-threatening events it is important to see the need for technology in this field. With this in mind, there has been a computerized physician order entry (CPOE) support system that improves patient safety minimizing the amount of error. Examples of these errors include, “using the wrong drug or dosage form, incorrect dose calculation, not checking for allergies, and failure to adjust dosages in patients with renal or hepatic dysfunction” (Agrawal). This healthcare informatic system will therefore decrease the physician error and prevent the 1.5 million patients whom we talked about earlier be given wrong medication. To give a visual perspective below is an image of the CPOE support system and its indications to alert the physician shown in yellow (see fig.1).

(Figure 1).

Furthermore, along with this system there has been benefits to using electronic health records or EHR in effort to prevent patient safety. This form of healthcare informatics allows the patient to have real time records of their medical history. Instead of paper records that used to take time to find and put in order, in the words of the HealtIT.gov, “our world has been radically transformed by digital technology…medicine is an information-rich enterprise”. These EHR records allow for efficient collection and storing of patient care data all in the hands of technology informatics. The EHRs, “encompasses and leverages digital progress and can transform the way care is delivered and compensated” (Benefits). This use of technology will not only make healthcare systems more efficient but also ensure patient safety.

Works Cited

Agrawal, Abha. “Medication Errors: Prevention Using Information Technology Systems.” British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 67.6 (2009): 681–686. PMC. Web. 30 June 2018.

“Benefits of EHRs.” HealthIT.gov, 5 Oct. 2017, www.healthit.gov/topic/health-it-basics/benefits-ehrs.