Impact of Technology in Healthcare Industry: Issues and Recommendations

Introduction
Increased use of technology in healthcare has brought massive positive change in the health
industry. This positive change has not only benefited the patients but also the professionals.
Patients are able to access best diagnostic tools, cutting-edge treatments, reduced treatment
procedures which results in less pain and quicker recovery. Patients can consult specialists,
targeted treatments and the availability of intuitive mobile applications. The advancement of
technology has improved the life of the patient in general. (Mettler, 2016)
Specialists have benefited the easier execution of their duties. Introduction of technology in
healthcare has eliminated a lot of paperwork. For example in record keeping is now easier
using mobile applications to collect patient data. Through online consultation, the business
owner has benefited since they can offer services to many patients all over the world. (Kohli
and Tan, 2016)
However, technology has also a negative impact on healthcare. Some of these negatives are
reduced-impersonal treatment. These intuitive mobile applications are as good as the person
who programmed them. For this reason, they do not give an equal quality of service as a
personnel specialist in many cases. Some technologies have negative effects such as
radiations. Invasion of electronic medical privacy record is another negative effect that we
cannot ignore. Since the patients' data is electronically recorded and stored, it is more
venerable to the hacker and other unauthorized personnel. (Martínez-Pérez, et al., 2015)
In this report, we shall discuss the various technological innovation and their impact to
healthcare, the privacy, and security of data in healthcare, various technological issues in
healthcare and the appropriate measure that can be taken.
Case study: The impact of technology in the healthcare industry
Charity Healthcare Centre is a growing hospital that has various departments. Due to the
increased number of patients visiting this healthcare, the management wishes to invest in
technology to couple with this situation. The management wishes to know the impact of this
innovation. The management needs to know how various medical technologies will affect its
operations. They need to know how they can apply the technology and maintain security and
the privacy of patients' data. The management also needs to know the issues that may arise,
and how to handle them. As an IT consultant, you are asked to prepare a report addressing the
above areas of interest.

Issues raised by IT in the healthcare industry and recommendations
Technology Glitches
The developer of medical technology has to test and correct all the bugs before the innovation
can be put into full use. For example, a professional has been experiencing hardware and
software problems in Google Glass. (Chang, et al., 2016) These issues have to be solved
before the professionals can fully rely on this technology in everyday use. In the google glass
technology, the physicians have also experienced an issue with the camera's battery life and
the camera pointing in the wrong direction.
In order to solve these problems, developers should improve the camera’s battery life, which
will increase the efficiency of Google Glass. These cameras should be developed in a way
that they are flexible to rotate around in order to solve the problem of facing the wrong
direction. (Chang, et al., 2016)
Privacy issues
Maintaining the patient's privacy is a big concern in the medical industry. Professional are
worried the increased use of technology will undermine the patient's privacy. For example,
when physicians are uploading the surgical data onto the internet using Google Glass may
allow unauthorized viewing. (Zhang, et al., 2015)
In order to solve this issue, physicians need to let their patients known that they will be using
Google Glass to film and get permission to adhere their right to privacy.
Multitasking and distractions
Some of the professionals are concerned that some physician may misuse the technology.
Some physicians are attempted to serve the internet rather than giving the patients full
attention they deserve.
This technological advancement is distractive and physicians must choose to use them
responsibly in order to get maximum out of them.
Student # 2
Case study: The impact of information technology on surgical facility

Due to its huge innovation strength data technology infiltrates not solely administrative
ranges of surgical work, however surgical handicraft itself. Thus nowadays operations may
be planned and simulated at the computer. Digitized findings may be called up throughout the
operation. Robots are moving instruments and are able to take over outlined elements of an
intervention severally. However, the various current developments on laptop assisted Surgery
are raising questions concerning the effectiveness. Information technology earned a great
importance for medical documentation and performance-oriented billing within the past
years. The conversion to the system of diagnoses connected teams is not conceivable without
economical electronic documentation and writing. Engineering and flexibility to hospital-
internal advancement can become a crucial quality criterion of hospital data systems. Because
of the increasing condensation of workload and the immanent shortage of personnel surgical
coaching is attaining a brand new meaning for the physician himself and the hospital carrier.
Ambulatory Surgery Center is a non-profitable surgical facility located in UK. This
organization wishes to improve its surgical services offered to the patients. In order to
achieve its objectives, it has decided to introduce new technology in its operations. As an IT
expert, you have been asked to give recommendation on the impact of these technologies.
Issues and Recommendation
Although technology is rapidly changing the healthcare industry, there a number of issues
that need to be concerned with before venturing to use of technology. The following are some
of the issues and the possible solution.
Security and privacy
Security and privacy on patient's data is a major concern when using technology in
healthcare. When data is electronically stored, there is a high risk of hacker attacks. This
problem can be prevented by applying various security measures, for example, using anti-
virus software in systems and uses of strong passwords. (Martínez-Pérez, et al., 2015)
Technology misuse
Some specialist misuses the technology, for example, the use of social media instead of
serving patients. This issue can be solved by ensuring that the specialist is self-disciplined
enough not to misuse the technology.
Patient involvement