Analysis of Proposed Software System for UW School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics

University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics has proposed the implementation of a software system in order to address certain issues like communication barrier and wrong medications that have made negative impacts on the health of patients in the hospital. In this report, the proposed new software has been analyzed and suitable recommendations have been provided.

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Executive Summary
University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics has proposed
the implementation of a software system in order to address certain issues like communication
barrier and wrong medications that have made negative impacts on the health of patients in the
hospital. In this report, the proposed new software has been analyzed and suitable
recommendations have been provided.

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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................3
2.0 Method.......................................................................................................................................3
3.0 Discussion..................................................................................................................................4
3.1 Proposed Software Implementation.......................................................................................4
3.2 Pros and Cons of the Software...............................................................................................4
3.3 Alternative Solutions.............................................................................................................5
4.0 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................6
5.0 Recommendations......................................................................................................................6
6.0 References..................................................................................................................................8

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1.0 Introduction
Hermes & Hygiea Systems (HHS) is a proposed new software system to be implemented
by University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics in order to
solve certain issues that affect the healthcare system in the hospital (Jones, 2012). Some of the
issues that need to be addressed includes communication gap between the doctors resulting in
disastrous consequences for the patients, lack of a suitable database for storing patient data and
medical records and others. The proposed software system is expected to address all these issues
so that the patients receive faster and correct medication from the doctors.
In this assignment, a draft report has been prepared regarding the analysis of the proposed
software system and developing certain recommendations for the hospital.
2.0 Method
In order to gather sufficient insight as well as data on the topic of this report, secondary
data collection method has been adopted. In addition to the data collection, literature review has
also been conducted in order to understand the concepts and applications of the proposed
software in the healthcare system. For the collection of secondary data, statistics have been
collected from previous research works performed by the researchers on the use of software and
artificial intelligence in the healthcare sector. Based on the collected data and analysis of the
data, certain conclusions have been deduced regarding the applicability of the HHS in the
hospital.

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3.0 Discussion
3.1 Proposed Software Implementation
The proposed new software utilizes two artificial intelligences namely Hermes and
Hygiea that have two distinct functions in the system.
Hygiea – The function of Hygiea is to act as a pocket assistant to the doctor assigned to
treat a certain patient. In the current system, if the patient was previously treated by a different
doctor, the current doctor needs to contact that doctor and gather information regarding past
medications and medical history of patient (Bushak, 2013). Due to communication gap and
language barrier, this communication system is not very effective. Hygiea will have all the
relevant information already stored in the database and no communication with the previous
doctor will be necessary.
Hermes – Hermes will act as the data management intelligence and the algorithms in it
will be set in such a way that it will automatically sort the data as per its content and category,
enter the data into the system and provide access to only selected data to the system users like the
doctors.
3.2 Pros and Cons of the Software
The pros of the software are discussed as follows.
No Communication Gap / Barrier – As discussed previously, the communication barrier
has caused serious implications on the patients’ treatment processes in the past (Ostrom, 2013).
However, with the new software system, communication with past doctors will no longer be

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required as the current doctor will be able to find the data he was looking for in the system
database itself.
Auto-Suggestion of Medication – The programming of the software will be done in such
a way that it will be able to analyze the medical history of the patient automatically and auto-
suggest a list of medications for the patients to the doctors (Sutcliffe, Lewton & Rosenthal,
2004). The system will also display the side effects of certain medications if they are used on the
patients with certain medical conditions.
The cons of the system are as follows.
Pre-Programmed Working – The software will only exhibit results that have been
preprogrammed in it. Although this system can work in minor or small cases of treatment, this
system will be significantly useless for complex medications during serious operations and
treatments (Brown & Miller, 2017). In these types of situations, the medications are generally
changed from time to time depending on the condition of the patient and the system will not be
able to keep track on the same.
Security – The security of the data stored in the system is not ensured. The data in the
system includes patients’ personal data, medical history and others and hence, the system can
become preferred target for hackers and unethical internet users who may try to steal the data by
breaching the security of the system.
3.3 Alternative Solutions
There can be some alternate solutions that can be considered by the hospital. Some
alternate solutions are as follows.

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Manual Management – The data entry and management can be done with manual
interference in order to add more intelligence to the process. The software can only perform
programmed activities whereas with manual handling, the process can become much more
effective and efficient.
Electronic Health Record – Instead of utilizing artificial intelligence, the hospital can
consider the implementation of electronic health record that will have many similar features but
will also be cheaper, effective and able to handle complex medical situations using manual
interference.
4.0 Conclusion
It can be concluded that HHS will be very much suitable for the hospital for addressing
the issues listed. The artificial intelligence support will provide the hospital with a wide range of
features and very high efficiency in data collection, management and storage. However, there are
certain issues and shortfalls that need to be addressed before implementing the system. The
implementation of the system will also require significant amount of funding but this will also
solve the issues that have long lasting negative effects on the hospital.
5.0 Recommendations
Some recommendations regarding the implementation of the HHS are listed as follows.
Develop Complex Algorithms for Complex Problems – The developers must consider
the cases of complex situations when various types of medications are to be used on the patient
in order to develop complex algorithms for the software. Based on these complex algorithms, the
system will be able to handle complex problems effectively and with much more efficiency.

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Ensure Security – Another major recommendation to be suggested is ensuring the
security of the data stored by the software. Since the system will store and manage sensitive data,
suitable actions are to be taken including implementation of firewalls, anti-virus and other
defensive software to prevent any external attack and data breach within the system.

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6.0 References
Brown, E.W. & Miller D.D. (2017). Artificial intelligence in medical practice: the question to the
answer? The American Journal of Medicine, 131(2), 129-133.
doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2017.10.035.
Bushak, L. (2013, July 13). Family wins $15.2 million after medical miscommunication leaves
mackenzie briant with devastating brain damage. Medical Daily. Retrieved from,
https://www.medicaldaily.com/family-wins-152m-after-medical-miscommunication-
leaves-mackenzie-briant-devastating-brain-damage
Jones, S. (2012). Information and communication technologies in healthcare. Boca Raton, Fla.:
Taylor & Francis.
Ostrom, C.M. (2013, July 12). Uw must pay family $15m for error that left daughter disabled.
The Seattle Times. Retrieved from, https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/uw-must-
pay-family-15m-for-error-that-left-daughter-disabled/
Our Affiliates. (n.d.). Retrieved from, http://www.seattlechildrens.org/about/affiliates/
Sutcliffe, K. M., Lewton, E., & Rosenthal, M. M. (2004). Communication Failures: An Insidious
Contributor to Medical Mishaps [Abstract]. 79(2), 186-194.