Information Management for Leaders IT SWOT Analysts Information management is an integral part in the healthcare sector’s operations. Health care providers use IT on a daily basis more than any other sector in the economy. Information management is necessary to keep safe and up to date the patients’ medical histories well as to provide a database for health researchers and policy makers. Many healthcare providers now use Electronic Health Record (EHR) to manage hospital data. Information systems are also crucial to maintain credible information for administrative, financial, and legal operations of the health centers.
An effective Health Information System, HIS, is inevitable for hospitals for them to provide quality health care to the growing demand from a rapidly growing population. This SWOT analysis examines the information management of Skyline Healthcare. Skyline Healthcare is located in Los Angeles, California; it is along 3032 Rowena Avenue. The medical center borders Silver Lake. It consists of hospitals and rehabilitation centers for young adults fighting drug addiction. In addition, the center provides counseling and mental healthcare. Skyline Healthcare also provides care for the elderly in society.
The medical facility operates through the week and opens from 8 AM in the morning to 8 PM in the evening. It has modern medical facilities and well-trained nurses who offer various health services. As a result, the facility serves many people from the city and other adjoining areas. The facility has an effective information management system to help in the effective treatment of patients and the administration of the facility. Strengths Skyline’s information management allows nurses to retrieve information that helps them to improve the provision of services to the patients who frequent the facility.
I nls Is Decause tne Taclll ys InTormatlon system accurately stores InTormatlon on patients’ details and medical history. The facility stores information safely and in such a way that it can be easily accessed by the facilitys nurses and workers. The information system provides reliable information about patients when needed to, enabling the clinicians to provide better health care services to patients. The Skyline’s information system stores information about patients’ laboratory tests such as X-rays and blood tests.
Nurses can then assess vital patients’ data in order to give appropriate prescriptions. The system boosts the efficiency and timeliness of the acilitys services. The information system enables the medical center to eliminate medical errors (Rodrigues, 2010). The IT department stores personal information about patients such as ages, gender, and a patient’s reaction to the prescribed medication. This eliminates the problem of administering of the wrong medication to patients. Nurses are able to check personal details of patients before administering any form of treatment.
The system detects problems in the medical errors generated by incorrect medication and wrong prescription to patients due to confusion of patients’ personal details. The medical center uses its information management system to improve efficiency of its services, thereby eliminating any medical errors that may result in fatal medication errors. Skyline Healthcare uses information management to improve the administration of the facility; the HIS plays a crucial role in controlling the administration of the medical center.
This is because the center’s information system stores official documents and workers’ personal data. The management uses IT to prepare the facilitys financial reports and to verify the medical stocks to prevent the center from running out of medical supplies. According o Stegwee and Spill (2001), information about the nurses helps the HR department to organize and plan for work schedules to ensure that patients obtain quality services in time. The administrators are able to avert the problem of conflicting nurses’ schedules.
The center enjoys effective management, which is attributable to its information system. Weaknesses The center’s information system may not be secure to guarantee the security of patients’ private information. The information system may be vulnerable to hackers and other cyber-attacks. The administration needs to ensure the security of the center’s information system. This includes using both internal and external methods of preventing unauthorized persons from accessing private medical information about patients.
The system must have adequate back up to prevent any information loss in case of systematic failures. The health center’s management must only provide login details to fewer senior workers to avoid random access to private patients’ information. Failure to ensure the security of the medical center’s information system may result in leaking of private medical information to the public, which can tarnish the image of the health center. Another weakness entails esistance by the workers to utilize fully the IT system.
Some nurses and other workers may resist using information system in performing their duties. Adoption of new technologies may result in change of work schedules and processes. Some of the medical center’s workers who may prefer previous work methods and processes may not have welcomed this. Apart from resistance to IT, some of the Skyline Healthcare workers may be slow to adopt the IT system, therefore Jeopardizing healthcare provlslon (Roarlgues, 2 u) opportunltles The Skyline Healthcare’s IT system should utilize the increased use of the Internet to mprove its information management.
The center should take advantage of increased Internet access by the public to market its services to the public. Skyline Healthcare should use high Internet coverage to increase its services, especially to take advantage of the increased number of home-care patients. The center should establish online counseling and healthcare to patients who stay at home due to the increased medical costs of using the center’s facilities (Rodrigues, 2010). Threats According to Haux (2004), one major threat is the high cost of maintaining HIS.
The ystem requires a high capital investment to install and run the system efficiently. In addition to the installation costs, the system may require additional staff in order to maintain it and prevent systematic failures. The HIS requires constant checks and system inspection to prevent any information loss. This may result in the center incurring high costs, which in turn increase the medical costs charged to patients. Conclusion Skyline Healthcare’s strategic position as a revered health care service provider is certainly the strongest in the region.
The center demonstrates strength in its uptake nd use of IT to manage patient’s data, diagnosis, and medication, and the HRM and administration of the hospital. The opportunities are that the center can make use of the expanded internet access to cater for patients who, for a reason, may not be able to visit the clinics. However, the center’s IT system is susceptible to many forms of cyber-attacks, and may not yield the intended efficiency if some of the workers resist to fully adopt and use the system. Moreover, the center has to allocate additional funds to update and maintain the IT system on a constant basis.
Regardless of the indsight that IT systems are prone to attacks, data loss, and misuse, the center can ward off any potential mishaps by employing the best IT personnel and using modern IT infrastructure. References Haux, R. (2004). Strategic information management in hospitals: An introduction to hospital information systems. New York, NY: Springer. Rodrigues, J. (2010). Health information systems: Concepts, methodologies, tools and applications. Hershey, PA: Medical Information Science Reference. Stegwee, R. A. , & Spill, T. A. M. (2001). Strategies for healthcare information systems. Hershey, PN: Idea Group Publications.
