As a result she had to manage time from her busy schedule. The primary healthcare physician just did the urine test and confirmed her pregnancy which was similar to the test she already did at home. There was no proper communication from the physician’s side about what diagnostic tests Ruth needs to go through in the following days and has just referred her to the birth centre. At the birth centre she was given a questionnaire about family reproductive history about what she wasn’t sure. If this questionnaire was sent to her via email, she would have got an opportunity to refer her family and produce accurate information.
It would also help to cut down the time spent at the birth centre. The receptionist at the birth centre placed the referral letter in to one of her archives which would have been difficult if she needed to retrieve it for future purposes. Ruth was suggested to undergo a genetic test for cystic fibrosis, for which she had to give blood samples at nearby hospital. For this purpose a new referral form was made and she had to again register herself at the new hospital which took time again. Also, the phlebotomy’s was not available on Saturday to draw blood or the test.
If this information was provided to her she would not have wasted her time and made her appointment on the right day. Because of all the inconvenience Ruth faced, she decided to forgo the necessary test which could compromise her pregnancy. Role of health services manager in the improvement of patient care journey using CIT A health service manager can utilize an electronic system to improve patient journey through various centre to minimize time consumption and improve the patient comfort levels through the tough times in her pregnancy and improve the treatment outcomes.
The entire process from the patient estimation, appointments, diagnostics tests, archiving patient history, treatment options in the healthcare systems need to be computerized. All the information of the patients should be updated on a such databases that are interlinked, so that it can accessed by any health care centre to facilitate the patient using proper protocols. (McCarty, 2012). Use of information technology and communication infrastructure and development of an integrated network between health care facilities was also suggested by the HISS, Health Informatics Society of Australia (Australia 2007).
The important attest like appointments can also be conveyed to the patient as a reminder using a web integrated mobile messaging service or by sending the emails. (Thomas A, 2012). Also, a receptionist can a play a vital role in making things easy to a patient by helping in making appointments and giving information to the patient about what steps are involved at the next stop. Benefits of Redesign The health care providers should communicate effectively with the patients and provide reliable information.
Also patient counseling is very much important in this case in calming the pregnant women to assess the motional condition of her and to guide and help her in going through all scenarios of her pregnancy. The patient needs to be informed about what needs to be done and what not. Implementing ERR (Electronic health record) systems will provide us with an opportunity to improve public health practice and policy.
Also the physician could make available an email or web based leaflet to guide the patient through the steps involved onto how to manage her pregnancy, how to utilize the health resources effectively and diagnostic tests to undergo. With this Ruth could taken advantage and get the information at doorstep, thus she could have managed time to complete the cystic fibrosis genetic test. Major obstacles or risks that can affect outcomes One of the major potential barriers to adoption is concern about interoperability.
Few electronic-records systems allow for easy exchange of clinical data between hospitals or from hospitals to physicians’ offices. Low levels of health information exchange in the marketplace reduce the potential value of these systems and may have a dampening effect on adoption. Also it is challenge to develop and implement such CIT system that would ensure roper data migration across networks, which is secure and reliable, easy to implement and to provide an optimal working platform to the health professionals to work upon it.
There should be an optimal backup in case of data loss because the information is very crucial to the patient’s welfare. Among hospitals without electronic-records systems, the most commonly cited barriers were inadequate capital for purchase, concerns about maintenance costs, resistance on the part of physicians, unclear return on investment, and lack of availability of staff with adequate expertise in information technology (Ashley D, 2011). The general public in remote areas are less connected to the internet so they access to the information.
Also the information that is provided needs to be correct and reliable and provided by the government health agencies so that people don’t fall on wrong tips. Implementation of this system needs proper training and the physician and the receptionists need to be aware of what they are doing. Physicians do not follow the need of Ear’s generally either because they are busy or don’t want to get into new technologies (Michaels, 2014). Conclusion The initiative of implementing CIT would have helped Ruth and also many there patients and would ensure good health outcomes and patient comfort levels.