Week 4: Unit 2

Medical Data Usage

UNIT 2: The Role of Computers in Data Storage
In this Unit students are introduced to the
health record, the forms within the
record; documentation and content of a good
health record, as well as the uses of
and responsibility for a patient's health
record.
Participants are reminded of the importance
of health records in patient care and
are encouraged to develop an acute
awareness of all the essential requirements of
an accurate, complete health record.
Objectives
By the end of this unity, the student
should be able to:
1. Define what is meant by a “computer storage"
2. Explain in detail the reasons for developing and
keeping health records
3. State the value and uses of the health record
together with the requirements for a good health
record
4. State the purposes of a health record
5. Describe the development of a health record
from admission to the discharge of a patient in a
hospital
UNIT 2: The Role of Computers in Data Storage
Data Management
• Data provide the infrastructure for recording and
sharing information. Data become information when
they are organized to affect decisions, actions, and
learning.
• Accessing and moving data from the points of
collection to the points of use are among the primary
functions of computing in medicine.
• These applications must deal with large volumes of
varied data and manage them, for persistence, on
external storage.
UNIT 1: Health Record: From Paper to Electronic
Computer Storage Types
• Computers use several different storage components to operate, and the functional capacities of
these devices are growing larger as technology improves.
• There are three types of storage
Primary storage
Secondary storage
Offline storage
As stated previously, storage technology continues to advance, allowing more and more information
to be stored in smaller and smaller spaces. Comparatively speaking, the amount of information that
the computers used in today’s health care environment can store is vast.
UNIT 1: Health Record: From Paper to Electronic
Computer Storage Types
UNIT 1: Health Record: From Paper to Electronic
COMPUTER STORAGE: RAID
Commonly, data is stored on redundant arrays of independent disks or RAIDs. Most RAIDs use
magnetic hard drives, like the kind in a personal computer, although much larger. These drives are
“stacked” together, splitting up and duplicating the data to enable larger capacities and faster access
times.
With the development of high-speed networks, RAIDs and other storage devices are no longer limited
to a single room—they can be spread out over large distances. This technology is called a storage area
network (SAN), which, thanks to special software, can provide data backup and faster retrieval.
UNIT 1: Health Record: From Paper to Electronic
COMPUTER STORAGE: CLOUD COMPUTING
Cloud computing has taken the idea of computer networking a step further. Put very simply, “the
cloud” is the Internet. In conventional network computing, each user’s software and processing is
confined locally, either on his or her own terminal or on a local server.
• Users may connect to and access data from remote sources, but most of the applications and
infrastructure are in-house. Cloud computing structures share many of those resources over the
Internet. For example, rather than being loaded onto each computer in a hospital, the EHR software
or application exists in the cloud, and each user accesses it using a Web browser. Practice Fusion is
one example of a cloud-based EHR; the entire program—along with the data and the computer
processing that makes the system work—is remote and accessed with a common web browser.
• No part of the EHR or any of the patient records it contains are on hard drives or computers in a
physician’s office. Alternatively, some cloud computing architectures are accessed through the use
of very small applications or programs on each computer, tablet, or even mobile phone.
Week 4: Unit 2
Check your Understanding
 UNIT 1: Check your understanding
1. Programs that allow the user to interact with a
computer are known as:

A. RAM.
B. hardware.
C. software.
D. storage.
UNIT 1: Check your understanding
2. Which of the following structures shares resources
over the Internet?

A. Software
B. Cloud computing
C. Hardware
D. Off-line storage
 UNIT 1: Check your understanding
3. List the three types of computer storage discussed in
this unit.

4. Explain what an HIM manager would need to consider when looking

to store paper files electronically.
UNIT 1: Check your understanding
5. Which of the following is used to provide data backup
and faster retrieval over high-speed networks?

A. RAM
B. RAID
C. SAN
D. COLD
 UNIT 1: Check your understanding
6. ______________are stacked hard drives that split up and duplicate data to enable larger
capacities and faster access.

7. What is the name of the EHR software that is used as cloud computing software to store
health data for remote access.?
Thank you!