USE OF COMPUTERS IN HOSPITAL AND COMMUNITY

INTRODUCTION
The invention of computers started the revolution of Information Technology (IT) in
the world, bringing modern concepts into the world. In the past few decades, offices,
factories and business adopted computers to enhance their performance. The next were the
households to adopt the computers as their new form of entertainment. Today, computers,
along with Internet technology are being introduced into hospitals to enhance the
performance of the medical facilities that are dispensed. In the following paragraphs some
important uses of computers in hospitals have been described. Apart from that the
advantages of using computers to advance health care have also been discussed.

Hospitals today are bringing computers closer to the health care professionals and
closer to the patients in order to increase efficiency, but also increase accuracy. Computers
are often wall-mounted or deployed at all nurses’ stations within a hospital in order to ensure
that patients’ charts are more easily accessible and updated more accurately. Computers may
also be mounted on medical carts with secure medication dispensing systems that ensure that
patients receive the right medications at the right time, every time – reducing the chance of
error and increasing patient safety. These same computers mounted on carts can be used to
interact with the patients at their bedside, displaying lab and radiological results, and
engaging patients in private real-time discussions with their doctors regarding their diagnosis
and treatment.

Other areas within the hospital are increasing their computer use as well. Laboratory
facilities and radiological departments use PCs to conduct tests, but also enter results into
patients’ medical records. Doctors may collaborate with other specialists and colleagues
outside the hospital using telemedicine – a computer-based communication and data sharing
system. Administrative departments, medical billing departments and the reception desk or
information center all use PCs to keep the hospital running. Going forward, every department
within a hospital facility will be using computers, with software that ties everything into one
system within the hospital and external to the hospital: collaborators, insurance providers,
laboratories, testing facilities, and patients themselves.
Use of computer
The term computer is used for any device that may be employed to compute or calculate. It is
an electronic device that receives to compute or calculate. It is an electronic device that
receives input, stores it for a period of time operating it according to set of

COMPUTER USES IN HOSPITAL AND COMMUNITY

USES IN COMMUNITY
When it comes to importance of computers in Hospitals, it is undoubtedly an
important aspect to keep in the pace of the technologically advanced world. Healthcare is
again a field where technology has made things lot better and increased the efficiency in
patient care. Below are some of the points which highlight the uses of computers in hospitals.

Storage of Patient Data: For any organization proper and systematic storage of information
is a mandate requirement. Nurses can use computers to take down and store notes of the
patients, as they observe their condition while on rounds. As the supervised rounds involve a
lot of patients and a lot of information, using a computerized personal digital assistant makes
it easier to access the right medical information at the right time instead of carrying a bunch
of paper work and then take time to search the piece of paper to access information when you
need to be quick, efficient and accurate.

Computerized Presentations: We all would agree that computerized power point

presentations are much more efficient and has more impact on the receiver when it comes to
presenting data. Even in the field of nursing education, computers help the nursing
tutors/educators to present the large and complicated detailed form of data, which of course is
a part of the medical study, in a very simplified and effective form. When speaking of uses of
computers in medicine, features like power point presentations, slide shows, and videos are
used to present medical procedures and techniques for better understanding of complex
medical procedures and their treatments.

Teaching nurses through Simulations: The field of medicine involves the concept of
"hands-on work". I mean be it a doctor or a nurse, countless procedures are done on patients
regularly. Nursing education therefore, must involve a lot of practice programs to make the
students efficient to face the real life scenario. Computer programs which enable simulate
such procedures therefore are of great use.

Computerized Self Evaluation: Computers also contribute and help the students know their
strengths and weaknesses. There are many computerized quiz and medical tests with
immediate feedback that can help you brush and develop your medical facts and requirements
without any delay. Your queries are solved, you know the answers and you know where you
stand. A regular use of such computer applications definitely makes you more equipped and
well researched for your field.

Interactive Learning: Among the uses of computers in education, the most appealing and
outstanding feature of computer based education is that it gives boost to interactive learning.

BASICS ABOUT A COMPUTER SYSTEM:

 A computer system is an electronic device similar to TV, DVD, etc. It accepts the
requests through commands and processes the requests to output the results.

In any hospital we have a procedure of file system to keep the records of the patients
visiting the hospital. These records will be stored in a department called Medical
Records section for the future follow-ups.

USING COMPUTERS TO ADVANCE HEALTH CARE

Using computers in health care can improve the quality and effectiveness of care and reduce
its cost. However, adoption of computerized clinical information systems in health care lags
behind use of computers in most other sectors of the economy.

Improved Quality Automated hospital information systems can help improve quality of care
because of their far-reaching capabilities.

Hospital information systems (HMS) in a hospital can combine the use of computers for
storing and transferring information with using them for giving advice to solve clinical
problems.
In addition to alerting physicians to abnormal and changing clinical values, computers can
generate reminders for physicians.
For complex problems, computer workstations can integrate patient records, research plans,
and knowledge databases.

Computers and databases can be used to compare expected results with actual results and to
help physicians make decisions.

The lives of patients can be improved if they use computer systems to obtain information,
make difficult decisions, and contact experts and support groups.

Decreased Costs When a physician orders a test by computer, it can automatically display
information that promotes cost-effective testing and treatment.

USES OF COMPUTERS IN HOSPITALS

Computers are being included in hospitals and medical clinics throughout the world. Some
uses of computers in hospitals and clinics have been described in the following paragraphs.

Application of Computers in Hospitals

Importance of computers in medicine is growing and spreading rapidly. The only
disadvantage is that a full fledged installation of all the computerized systems in hospitals is a
lengthy and costly process. There are however, some hospital systems which already work on
the basis of computers. Here's an explanation to all such systems, which work on
computers…

Uses of Computers in Hospitals:

a. Medical Data
Every day hospitals and clinics which are attached to it churn out enormous volumes of data
regarding patients, ailments, prescriptions, medications, medical billing details, etc. Such
medical records, are now a day‘s recorded into medical billing software. Such mammoth
databases are known as Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Electronic Health Records
(EHR). These databases are operated by a set of computers and servers, and come in handy
during medical alerts and emergencies. The concept of EHR is a bit broader than the EMR, as
the database is accessible from different clinics and hospitals. Thus, a patient's medical
history can be retrieved from any hospital by medical practitioners.
b. Medical Imaging
'Tests' are medical procedures where specified components of the human body are scanned. A
test can be as simple as a regular blood test or it can be a complex CT /MRI scan. This
process is often referred to as a medical imagery. In order to increase the precision of such
procedures, computers have been adopted and integrated into the testing equipment. The
Ultrasound and the MRI are the best examples where computers have been adopted, in order
to make the process faster and precise. Thus medical tests and tools have become more
advanced as a result of the use of computers.

c. Medical Examination
Many systems are underway for the development of medical monitoring which will help
humans to properly monitor their own health. In many cases doctors and surgeons also use
sophisticated computer aided equipment to treat their patients. Such systems and procedures
include, bone scan procedure, prenatal ultrasound imaging, blood glucose monitors, advanced
endoscopy which is used during surgery and blood pressure monitors. Basically these
medical tests and tools provide significant convenience to medical practitioners. You will
find that major laboratory equipment and heart rate monitors have already been computerized
in many hospitals.

Advantages of Computers in Hospitals

There are significant advantages of using computers in hospitals. The importance of
computers in hospitals has also increased drastically due to the fact that the procedures have
to be speedy to cater to a larger population and the medical services have to be more precise.

To sum up, the advantages of computers in hospitals can be summarized as follows:

 Precise 'tests' and medical examinations

 Faster medical alerts, which are more accurate time-wise

 Enhanced data about a patient‘s medical history

 Precision in diagnosis

 Precision in billing
  Automated updating of medical history

The possibility of computers uses in the medical field are endless, facilitating medical help to
hospitals and clinics all across the globe. I hope that the elaboration of the uses of computers
in hospitals is resourceful.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A prospective case series study was conducted by Robert A R et.al To develop, implement,
and evaluate a computer alert system designed to correct errors that might lead to ades and to
detect adverse effects before maximum injury occurs in A 650-bed community teaching
hospital in Phoenix, Ariz. Consecutive sample of 9306 non obstetrical adult patients admitted
during the last 6 months. Thirty-seven drug-specific adverse effects were targeted. Our
hospital information system was programmed to generate alerts in clinical situations with
increased risk for ADE-related injury. A clinical system was developed to ensure physician
notification of alerts. During the 6-month study period, the alert system fired 1116 times and
596 were true-positive alerts. The alerts identified opportunities to prevent patient injury
secondary to adverse effects at a rate of 64 per 1000 admissions. A total of 265 (44%) of the
596 true-positive alerts were unrecognized by the physician prior to alert notification.
REFERANCE

 Raschke RA, Gollihare B, Wunderlich TA, Guidry JR, Leibowitz AI, Peirce JC,
Lemelson L, Heisler MA, Susong C. A computer alert system to prevent injury from
adverse drug events: development and evaluation in a community teaching hospital.
Jama. 1998 Oct 21;280(15):1317-20.