Topic 1 DQ 1
What are the components of an information system? What does “accessibility” mean in the context of health care IT systems and how does it apply to health care settings? Provide a specific example to support your rationale.
Information Systems
Every day, clinicians collect massive amounts of patient data to guide diagnoses and treatments. They also share this data to enhance interprofessional collaboration and provide patient-centered care. Health information systems help clinicians to collect, analyze, and share data (Dixon et al., 2018). Due to their critical role, health care professionals should understand their essential components, their interconnection, and the importance of critical elements such as accessibility and usability.
The main components of an information system are hardware, software, data, and telecommunications. The hardware is the physical equipment of a system that facilitates input, output, and processing (GeeksforGeeks, 2023). Typically, hardware type, robustness, and complexity vary with an organization’s size and specialties. A system’s software has much to do with programs that control the hardware. The software programs also aid data analysis and processing (GeeksforGeeks, 2023). Data is the raw figures that are processed to provide health information. Telecommunications represent the tools and devices used to link a system’s components and to ensure that information is disseminated effectively. They include networks and optical cables.
To function effectively, health care information technology (IT) systems should be highly accessible. Generally, accessibility denotes a system’s ability to be usable to all people, including users with some impairments or disabilities. An accessible system encourages usage by reducing limitations as much as possible. A suitable example of an accessible system is one with an intuitive design, implying that it is easy to use (Michael et al., 2021). In health care settings, an accessible system is crucial to allow health care professionals to access information and use it for medical reasons. All users, including the visually impaired or with hearing loss, can use accessible systems. Therefore, accessibility is a critical consideration when designing and implementing health IT for patient care.
References
Dixon, B. E., Embi, P. J., & Haggstrom, D. A. (2018). Information technologies that facilitate care coordination: provider and patient perspectives. Translational Behavioral Medicine, 8(3), 522-525. https://doi.org/10.1093/tbm/ibx086
GeeksforGeeks. (2023). Components of an information system. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/components-of-information-system/
Michael, C. L., Mittelstaedt, H., Chen, Y., Desai, A. V., & Kuperman, G. J. (2021). Applying user-centered design in the electronic health record (EHR) to facilitate patient-centered care in oncology. AMIA … Annual Symposium proceedings. AMIA Symposium, 2020, 833–839. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8075506/
