The Growing Need for Information Technology
A vast amount of medical research data and information is disseminated every day. Health professionals cannot possibly keep up with the explosion of information, and consequently not everyone has access to the very latest in techniques and procedures. This is due in large part to the fact that less than 20 percent of hospitals and only about 5 percent of physicians' offices are equipped to handle electronic medical records.
This is all a good indication of the fact that there is a long way to go in getting practitioners as well as facilities to go online to receive and stay abreast of this information or to participate in research opportunities.
Computer technology took a long time to become an everyday part of practitioners' lives and offices in the first place. Hospitals and other health care facilities were some of the last holdouts in introducing computerized components to their everyday functions as well. Computer literacy has not been emphasized, and the expense and learning curves have been allowed to be good excuses to delay the computerization process.
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The consequence of insufficient computer literacy is that it still takes about fourteen to seventeen years for medical breakthroughs to become standard practice. This is not the case in other industries where effective use of information and data is regularly used to measure quality and plan for improvement.
The opportunity is here. Health care software is a multimillion-dollar-plus industry and growing. The use of PDAs, MP3 players, and electronic notebooks and tablets is becoming much more commonplace with practitioners. Billing codes have become much more definitive so that data can be better collected and studied. Politicians have set goals for creating an infrastructure not only to promote electronic health records, but also to utilize the information contained in those records to promote higher quality standards and to better study diseases, treatments, and outcomes.
Access to health information and utilizing that access to promote improved health care are essential to the health care industry. In combination with that, computer literacy is a must for all health care workers.
Continuing education is an opportunity to learn about advances in your field. Almost all licensed health care workers are required to take some form of continuing education on a regular basis. Stay informed and subscribe to updates and e-mail alerts to keep abreast of research and advances in the medical field in general. Take in-services, seminars, and workshops to help improve and broaden your knowledge base.
