Healthcare Interoperability: Systems, Safety Culture, and Challenges

This report provides an overview of healthcare interoperability, defining it as the ability of different health information systems to work efficiently. It highlights the key benefits, such as efficient data exchange and seamless access to information, while also addressing challenges like privacy and security concerns and lack of staff training. The report uses the example of an emergency department to illustrate how interoperability is maintained through uniform data movement between systems. It emphasizes the impact of interoperability on the culture of safety, particularly through the use of electronic health records (EHRs) and effective communication methods. The report concludes by noting that a lack of interoperability can threaten patient safety due to technical glitches, poor care coordination, and information exchange barriers.

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Health care
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Benefits and challenges associated with interoperability:
In health care, interoperability is defined as an ability of different health information
system to work efficiently across the organization by connecting in a coordinated manner and
promoting access and cooperative use of data amongst all stakeholders (Cardoso et al., 2018).
The key benefits of interoperability are that it facilitates exchange of health data across relevant
stakeholders in an efficient manner and effective integration across different system so that data
is readily available to share. It provides the advantage of providing seamless access to
information and enhancing understanding of methods to address health issues of an individual.
Despite this benefit, some of the challenges associated with interoperability include privacy and
security issues associated with the use of different ICT tools and lack of training or education
among staffs regarding appropriate use of health information systems. In addition, resistance
from staffs and lack of administrative support for information technology create many challenges
in the application of operability in health care setting (Iroju et al. 2013).
Explanation of systems communication through example of a health care setting:
The dynamics and the way by which interoperability is exhibited in an organization can
be understood from example of a specific health care setting. For example, emergency
department (ED) in a hospital is a setting where emergency medical care is given to patients who
are in need of immediate care. In such settings, multi-professional health care team of nurse,
physician assistances, lab technicians, medical administrative assistants and IT staffs work
together to provide emergency medical care to patient. Hence, based on flow of patients each
day, nurses need to interact with ISs numerous time to get update on lab reports, patient history
and medicine related details. The different ISs present in the ED setting includes pharmacy,

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laboratory, documentation staffs and IT staffs handling tools like electronic medical record. In
such setting, interoperability is maintained by uniform movement of health data from one system
to another. For example, a lab result from a specific center is circulated to the ED staffs through
information technology systems. Hence, when an efficient system is maintained to circulate data
and present vital information to the required team, seamless service and quality of care is
maintained.
Impact of interoperability on culture of safety:
Interoperability is considered a vital element for establishing a culture of safety as it aids
in establishing more effective communication methods. For example, one of the commonly used
IT system in health care includes electronic health record (EHR) and it has been found that the
tool is efficient in promoting patient safety by detecting missed diagnosis, producing error alerts
and assisting involved medical team to timely gather and analyze patients information for care
delivery (Hydari, Telang & Marella, 2015). Hence, effective interaction between technical and
non-technical factor is important to ensure that culture of safety is maintained. Apart from the
design of the IT tool, the work environment and the entire physical infrastructure should be
aligned to the tool. All involved staffs must be efficient in utilizing the data from the ISs and
passing it down to relevant end users. However, lack of interoperability is a threat to patient
safety as this leads to technical glitches, lack of care coordination and poor exchange of
information resulting in barrier to delivery of high quality care (Samal et al., 2016).

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References:
Cardoso, L., Marins, F., Quintas, C., Portela, F., Santos, M., Abelha, A., & Machado, J. (2018).
Interoperability in healthcare. In Health Care Delivery and Clinical Science: Concepts,
Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 689-714). IGI Global.
Hydari, M. Z., Telang, R., & Marella, W. M. (2015). Electronic health records and patient
safety. Commun. ACM, 58(11), 30-32.
Iroju, O., Soriyan, A., Gambo, I., & Olaleke, J. (2013). Interoperability in healthcare: benefits,
challenges and resolutions. International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, 3(1),
262-270.
Samal, L., Dykes, P. C., Greenberg, J. O., Hasan, O., Venkatesh, A. K., Volk, L. A., & Bates, D.
W. (2016). Care coordination gaps due to lack of interoperability in the United States: a
qualitative study and literature review. BMC health services research, 16(1), 143.