Paper Example. Interoperability Practices

Interoperability in health care refers to the working together of information systems for the effective delivery of service. It involves the use of technological systems for various purposes such as monitoring and leveraging of data. For this study, several cases were selected for an interoperability review and their effect on clinical outcomes. These are the Oschner Health System, the OPAT model of Parkland Hospital, and the Virtual Patient Observation case.

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The Oschner Health system was used to improve chronic illness management. Patients with Diabetes and hypertension are required to make constant visits to the office. However, with this technology, patients can be monitored without visiting. The system provides remote monitoring to measure blood pressure, unto which results are wired to the HER to determine the necessity for intervention (French, 2019). Diabetes patients automatically receive reports of their blood sugar levels and advice on their progress. As a result, Hypertension patients' compliance rose with significant levels, and patients were able to save more money on visits.

The Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) model involves determining patients that can self-administer antibiotics at home to save on cost and hospital readmissions due to poor compliance. Patients are then provided with videos to guide them and a QR code to help them access more information (French, 2019). Patients are guided on how to self-administer using syringes, mechanical infusion pumps or elastomeric infusion systems. This intervention lowered readmission rates and saved the hospital 40 million dollars.

Virtual Patient Observation has eased the burden on traditionally assigned non-medical persons who stay at the bedside to observe patients' safety concerns (Fox, 2019). Observation of patients is computerized on an HD touch screen. Two-Way communication is enabled through fitted microphones. The system improved patient and staff safety in addition to hospital saving on staffing costs.

In conclusion, interoperability practices have proven beneficial to individual patients, facilities, and the community at large. The practices aid in the monitoring of patients, delivering quality effective services to individuals as well as reduction of costs for healthcare facilities.

References

Fox, B. (2019). Atrium Health. Designing and Implementation of Virtual Patient Observer. https://www.himss.org/sites/hde/files/d7/u393098/2019Davies_Atrium_Pt

FallsUseCase.pdfFrench, J. (2019). HIMSS. Leveraging Digital Health to Improve Patient Satisfaction. https://www.himss.org/resources/leveraging-digital-health-improve-patient-satisfaction