Development in information technologies is propelling change in every segment including the health sector. In fact, application of health IT in the hospitals and other health care centers is already benefiting the people across the world. This is primarily because health information technologies can help not only in effective management and secure exchange of medical information but also in improving quality and access to health care at any given time.
Utility of Health IT
Adequate and accurate information is very critical in the health care industry as wrong information can lead to mistreatment and loss of patient's life. Technologies that can help in channelizing accurate information would prevent medical errors and also reduce care costs. IT also plays a critical role in improving administrative efficiency. But the greatest beneficiary of the application of these technologies would be the patient as proper diagnosis and speedy recovery would ensure not only low costs but also less suffering.
Challenges Before the Health Care industry
Despite its tangible benefits, application of ITs in the health care has been quite slow which is evident from the low amount of budget that they keep for IT spending. This is particularly true in the developing countries. For example, IT spending of even tier I hospitals in India is just 2% of their total revenue. Apart from low budget, health professionals face various other challenges of integrating IT due to lack of proper education and training, lack of access to proper hardware and hindrances in the interoperability of various medical devices.
Conclusion
Although the process of integrating the information and communication technologies has been slow in various parts of the world, its importance is hardly denied anywhere. Realizing the potential of health care IT, a separate career called Medical Informatics that concentrates on managing medical and care through information science and technology has now become very promising. A parallel industry in developing health IT equipments is also developing fast. All that care industry now needs is the willingness to integrate at least the essential technologies and required aid from the government sector as health care is a basic necessity.
Gokul Bhagabati
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