Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CHAPTER
Fundamentals of
Information
Systems
Health Information Technology and Management
Richard Gartee
Pretest (True/Fales)
RAM information is only in memory while
the computer is turned on.
Because optical disks cannot be written
over accidentally they are considered a
reliable medium for permanent record
archives.
Computers Overview
Electronic device used for entering,
storing, processing, displaying, outputting
information
Systems consist of hardware and software
Bits represent values 0 and 1
Bytes consist of 8 bits
A character is smallest unit of text data
A pixel is smallest unit of a digital image
Health Information Technology and Management
Richard Gartee
Hardware
Physical computer components
General examples include:
Computer, circuit board, computer chips,
monitor screen, keyboard, mouse, cables,
wires, printers, switches, routers, network
cards
Hardware (continued)
Specific examples include:
Central processing unit (CPU)
Random access memory (RAM) chips
Hard drives
Optical disks (CD or DVD)
Read-only memory (ROM) chips
Magnetic tape
Figure 4-1 Interior of workstation showing CPU, RAM, ROM, and optical and hard
drives.
Health Information Technology and Management
Richard Gartee
Software
Intangible logic, programs, routines that
provide instructions to computer for
processing information
Temporarily loaded in CPU and RAM;
requires computer to be on and program
open
Two broad categories include operating
system software and application software
Health Information Technology and Management
Richard Gartee
Examples of Devices
Input devices:
Keyboard, mouse, scanners, microphones,
cameras, Tablet PCs, personal digital
assistants (PDAs), x-rays, CAT scans, MRIs,
PET, ultrasound, electrocardiogram devices
Databases
Structure defined by an application that
stores data, or input information,
systematically for easy retrieval
Components include characters, fields,
records, files, tables
Commonly used in healthcare systems
Types of Data
Character: smallest unit of text data;
limited to letters, numbers, space,
punctuation marks
Fields: separate data into defined units
that can be recognized later
Records: a group of fields about a specific
thing
Files and tables: store records
Health Information Technology and Management
Richard Gartee
Data Dictionary
Defines field name, maximum length of
data it can hold, and type of data it will
contain
Defines record layout, or order of fields in
record
Figure 4-10 Data tables for patients, addresses, encounters and providers.
Health Information Technology and Management
Richard Gartee
Networks
Allow computers to pass information to
one another, share resources like printers,
scanners, application software, central
disk storage
Require special hardware
Allow many computers to share
information stored in one or more large
databases (client/server configuration)
Health Information Technology and Management
Richard Gartee
Examples of Networks
LANs:
Network only serves organization or facility in
which networked computers are located
WANs:
Similar to LANs, but cover larger geographic
areas by using secure telecommunication
lines
Examples of Networks
(continued)
Internet:
Worldwide public network of networks; can be
accessed by any computer anywhere
Communication Systems
E-mail:
Example of client/server architecture
Telecommunications systems:
Phone systems, typically managed by IT
department
Networking application VoIP allows computer
network to replace hospital telephone system
Standards
Health information industry standards
define exchange of patient and medical
data between applications
Standards help ensure data in one
database can be understood by another
application or database
Vendors must support and adhere to
standards to facilitate interoperability of
diverse systems
Health Information Technology and Management
Richard Gartee
Data Elements
Databases or paper records should
include standard data elements to make it
likely application will have data similar to
other systems, improving interoperability
and providing common elements for
system-wide reports
A data set is a list of data elements
collected for a particular purpose
Health Information Technology and Management
Richard Gartee
HL7
Most prominent interoperability standard
used in healthcare today
Facilities using various types of application
software from multiple vendors must use
HL7 to maintain interoperability between
various applications
CCOW subset helps maintain context
while switching between applications
Health Information Technology and Management
Richard Gartee