Healthcare Informatics

Introduction The Life Science and Medical Equipment Industry is a vast and complex industry that has been growing rapidly in recent years. This industry encompasses a broad range of products, including medical devices, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and diagnostic equipment. As the industry grows, it is increasingly relying on data to drive innovation, improve patient outcomes, and enhance operational efficiency. In this blog post, we will explore the ways in which data is being used to unlock the potential of the Life Science and Medical Equipment Industry. We will look at the challenges that the industry faces in managing and analyzing data and the opportunities that data presents for improving patient care and advancing research. We will also examine the technologies and tools that are being used to harness the power of data in this industry. Challenges in Managing Data One of the primary challenges that the Life Science and Medical Equipment Industry faces in managing data is the

** A Past Article** Avaya recently acquired Nortel’s (NRTLQ.PK) Enterprise Division through a bankruptcy process, and in the process, has uncovered tremendous opportunities in the healthcare sector. Gerard Dass, who is the Director Healthcare Solutions ( Asia Pacific)at Avaya has explained exactly what is occurring and what Avaya is doing to help solve major problems. Presently, there are over 5000 healthcare providers, and they all face a common set of issues. The trend in decreasing operating margins are a huge issue, payments for services are decreasing, the number of patients is increasing, and costs are going up, so they have to increase revenue with the same amount of assets. There is a shortage of employees as well, specifically nurses, and so one solution is to make employees more productive. Studies show that nurses spend 1/3rd of their time on caring for patients while the other 2/3rd’s is for administrative work. Administrative work is a clear example of manual processe

Overextended staff is the top concern among healthcare IT professionals surveyed recently concerning obstacles to providing better patient care. Avaya's survey found that respondents focused primarily on staff issues. Asked about the biggest challenge healthcare providers currently face, 32 percent cited “overextended clinical staff spending too much time performing non-patient care activities,” followed by "poor or lack of effective communication among staff," and "bottlenecks in patient flow." “We're seeing concerns among healthcare technology professionals about staffing and time being spent away from patients, which greatly impacts patient care and efficiency," said Gerard Dass, Avaya's Asia Pacific healthcare practice leader. "To address these challenges head-on, industry professionals are turning to communications solutions that drive faster and more productive collaboration, which makes all the difference in an industry where every

While the need to rally teams quickly in your hospital is certainly not new, there are an increasing number of ways to reach the right people when time is of the essence. Although pagers were once the standard for simultaneous communications, now staff can specify a wide range of devices on which they can be contacted. For example, if you have a critical code, such as when a heart attack patient arrives, you probably have to let many people know that they will play a role in the very near future. The Cath Lab, cardiologists, nurses, lab technicians, and more can receive the appropriate message and respond with their availability. This is the key – being able to track responses easily and let alternate staff know if someone can’t make it. All of this can happen using common communications devices and systems such as smartphones, pagers, email, desk phones, and others. Logging all correspondence throughout the process also comes in handy when the Joint Commission asks for audit trails.

1. Know the rules. HIPAA's privacy prohibitions not only protect the disclosure of a patient's name and "individually identifiable health information," but also requires the safeguarding of any information where there is a "reasonable basis to believe it can be used to identify the individual." 2. Develop a social media policy. A social media policy, written in plain language, with clear dos and don'ts, should be established to provide guidance on what is and is not permitted. 3. Training. If physicians are going to use social media, they need to learn the tools, techniques and strategies of social media. An unintentional disclosure of information due to a misunderstanding about how a social network or mobile application works may have the same consequences for a doctor or institution as intentional disclosure. A doctor's staff should also be given training so that they are equally equipped to understand the rules of social media engagement. 4.

Loss of productivity is the top worry for doctors thinking about switching from paper medical records to electronic ones, according to a new survey by the Medical Group Management Association. The online survey drew responses from 4,588 practices, representing about 120,000 physicians. Of practices still using paper records, more than 78 percent feared there would be a "significant" to "very significant" loss of provider productivity during implementation, and two-thirds (67.4 percent) had similar concerns about the loss of physician productivity after the EHR transition period. The practices still using paper medical records described the other significant to very significant barriers to EHR adoption as “insufficient capital resources to invest in an EHR” (71.7 percent) and “insufficient expected return on investment” (56.9 percent). "The EHR incentive program seeks to address implementation costs, a critical barrier to medical groups' adoption of E