Health and social care - Assignment Sample

Running head: HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE UNIT 1
Health and Social care Unit 1
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

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Information booklet on use and benefits of information and communication (ICT) in health
and social care
Overview about ICT software in health care:
ICTs are crucial tool to provide support to health care staffs regarding gaining access to
technological solution for communication within health and social care environment. ICTs are
range of electronic tools that promotes communication and information sharing process in health
care. The main purpose of information processing and exchange of information is to promote
health, manage illness and treat disease (Wildevuur and Simonse 2015). In the health care sector,
the main ICTs can provide support in the following areas of communication:
 Collecting and monitoring patient’s information
 Text messaging and updating client
 Diagnosing health and social care issues
 Providing treatment from distant areas
 Retrieving electronic health record
Figure 1: An ICT tool used in health care

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The main advantage of using ICTs in health and social care is that it has reduced
communication gap in health care by providing innovative ways to access, share and store
information. It has reduced the barrier to communication process between health care
professionals and service users. Another reason for wide application of ICTs is the potential to
promote patient-centered health care and at minimum cost too. It mitigates any issues faced by
remote services users in accessing the service and reduces travel time related in utilizing health
and social care service (Rouleau, Gagnon and Côté 2015).
Figure 2: Different types of benefit of ICT tool
Some examples of ICT tools in health and social care include the following:

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Spreadsheets: As the job a health and social worker is to communicate with client, use of ICT
tools help them to track their information on time. Use of ICTs like simple spreadsheets helps in
maintaining a collection of different client information.
EMR: Electronic Medical Records are tools to manage client care and collaborate on documents.
Database: Many online databases and web-based source also helps in exchange of information
between services user.
Benefits of ICT to users
Users of ICT get the following benefits from ICT tools:
Maintaining independence:
One of the most vital advantages of ICT tool in health care is that it helps a nurses to
remain independent and not depend on others to implement nursing action. By going through
patient details and other updates on ICT tool, engaging in quick decision making process for the
safety of patient has become easier for nurses. Research evidence by Haluza and Jungwirth
(2015) argues that ICT facilitated users to become autonomous and take better control of their
lives. Research participants experienced benefits from e-health support and the research proved
the fact that ICT has a positive impact on independence, autonomy and self-development of
users.
Communication:
ICT has played a role in improving communication process too. Communication between
patient and health care professionals increases efficiency in the care process and reduce
administrative cost. An ICT tools that give updates on patient health status and facilitates