2-1 Discussion: Data in Healthcare

Use of Data in Heath Care Settings Name Institution Use of Data in Heath Care Settings Clinical data has the capability of transforming the U.S. health care system. By offering deeper insight to patients, providers, and policy makers on the ideal application of interventions, as well as quality and the cost of care, the health care facility is able to quicken progress on the different dimensions of care (Kannel, 2008). In the last ten years, hospital administrators have been using data to help in making critical decisions regarding practice (Chaudhry, et al, 2015). At the management level, the review of data has been instrumental in pointing out to the management the areas that they need to improve on as well as on what they can do to improve the quality of care while at the same time reducing on the amount of money that patients spend at the hospital. Through the use of data, the administration is able to spot areas where they need to improve on as well as come up with modalities on how to deploy staff (Kannel, 2008). Apart from helping the administration to make certain decisions, the use of data is also useful to clinicians as it helps them to record critical signs and trends in illness. This is important as it can help in establishing whether there is an outbreak of disease within the location that is served by the health care institution. Apart from this, the health care data is crucial as it helps in tracking a patient’s medical history and as such helps in the diagnosis process. This helps in the reduction of the time spent at the hospital (D’Agostino, et al., 2007). An example of data can be used to help in the administration can be seen when the hospital decides to buy an MRI machine to avoid the referral of patients to another hospital for the same service. On the other hand, an example of how data improves on patient experience can be seen in the event where clinicians determine that there is an outbreak of measles in a hospital due to the recu...