Low Resource Cost Ict Infrastructure For Hospitals

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Healthcare is very important to the proper functionality of our society and so it becomes imperative that healthcare providers operate in an efficient and effective manner. Hundreds of thousands of patients are admitted into hospital every day challenging the administration to run smoothly. Clinical, financial and operations information have to be integrated by employees and the practice grows, this data was previously managed and organized manually, which was time consuming and could not deliver the required level of efficiency. Most professionally run, modern hospitals rely on a hospital information system (HIS) to help manage all the medical and administrative information required.

These systems are essentially implemented to allow hospitals to operate more efficiently. These systems were introduces in the 1960s but have evolved over time along with the modernization of healthcare facilities, where originally they were used primarily for managing inventory and billing information, they now manage clinical, financial and administrative tasks. These HIS include functionality for addressing the requirements of various departments within a hospital, they manage data related to the clinic, finance, laboratory, nursing, pharmaceutical, radiology and pathology departments.

Hospitals that migrate to these HIS enjoy the benefits of having access to quick and reliable information regarding patients’ records, These systems also allow for easy monitoring of drug usage in the facility allow for improvements on efficiency. Some hospitals have as many as 200 dissimilar systems combined into one HIS (http://www.emrconsultant.com/education/hospital-information-systems).

Some of these systems can cost a lot to implement and maintain, Kent Hospital in the United Kingdom Signed a £3.4m, three year contract for its patient management system (http://www.guardian.co.uk/heal, Paragraph 5).

PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This research will focus on the average hospital found in an average city, and will not be directed at any particular hospital, but rather at a scenario of creating a small-area multi-purpose ICT environment that can be adapted to hospitals for performing tasks that at current require time and/or resources. Any hospitals contacted will be referenced and indicated where applicable. Research will be done to establish what infrastructures are currently in place, and which tasks require the most resources to complete. Finally a proposal for a system will be made.

REASON FOR RESEARCH

Large amounts of chemicals are put into food, water, soft drinks, and pumped into the air as byproducts of the manufacturing process, this causes an imbalance in the human body, and so there has been an increase of illnesses throughout the world (Alvin Powell : 2010 http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/11/the-rise-of-chronic-disease/). This has increased the number of patients who are required to go to hospital, and with the limited numbers of medical staff caring for the patients has become a tremendously difficult task. This Research is to determine if and how an ICT infrastructure can alleviate some pressure from the medical staff, by automating certain tasks, and facilitating easy communication with in the hospital environment, the research will further determine if the system can be made in such a way that existing technologies can used, and that any new technologies that need to be developed can be done so at a low cost, and that the entire system can be run at a low resource consumption level, making accessible to all hospitals (first-world, third world and developing countries).

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Hospitals, in general can all be seen as resource constraint, as most have limitations on staff, finances and medical equipment, they require newer systems to manage patients but few have the financial capacity to afford the large and expensive systems on offer at present. Hospitals therefor continue using older systems for longer as the finances cannot accommodate a newer system.

RESEARCH QUESTION

Can a new system, that will help manage patients and medical staff, be developed in such a way that the system does not require expensive manufacturing, implementation or running processes, thereby making it a low resource system?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

This research will aim to determine how an ITC system can benefit a resource constraint hospital, and develop the principle idea behind a system that can be implemented using current and new technologies that are considered low resource consumption technologies.

PRELIMINARY LITERATURE REVIEW

The objective of this research is to devise an information communication technology infrastructure that allows a particular organization or community data transfer at a low cost to the community. The infrastructure will make use of existing technologies and develop on those technologies. The focus will be aimed at a the average hospital, where the system can be implemented, but with the guidelines for expansion if required. The hospital scenario will indicate that the hospital has limited funds. The methodologies that will be used, among others, are prototyping: prototypes of the system will be made, if only in part; as well as Modeling: Creating a model of the system as created.

The approach will be to identify appropriate Short range technologies, that are low on cost and low on resource consumption, as well as discovering whether a lightweight, low resource tablet computing device exists, or can be created form existing technologies. Any Hospitals and/or organizations interviewed, visited, or surveyed for the purposes of this research will be documents appropriately.

Information communication technology (ICT) is the sharing of information through the use of technology. Technology is advancing rapidly and will continue to do so in the near future creating a need to adopt it into businesses and communities. First-world countries easily adopt ICT infrastructures while developing countries and third-world countries struggle more to implement these infrastructures. In a recent study www.InternetWorldStats.com found that Africa only has about 15% population penetration into the internet, indicating that only 15% of the population actually have regular access to the internet, while countries like the United States of America have about a 78% population penetration into the internet (2013 : Stats.html). These statistics in turn indicate that some countries simply do not have the resources or infrastructure to supply ICT to a larger percentage of the population. Although the research is not aimed at Countries and is rather aimed at The Healthcare industry it is important to note that the healthcare industries in these first-world countries have many resource shortages, as it seems, no matter where in the world you are, there are always more sick people than can be treated efficiently.

Hospitals are an example of healthcare institutions that are resource constraint, , where nurses usually work for 8 to 12 hour shifts, sometimes working two shifts directly after one another, with those hours increasing according to (NursingWorld : 2012 : http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/WorkplaceSafety/Healthy-Nurse/Longer-Shifts-For-Hospital-Nurses-Higher-Levels-Of-Burnout-And-Patient-Dissatisfaction.pdf), this increase in hours can lead to an increase in errors with patient care. Listed as the top concern for hospital CEO’s are finances (Ache : 2013 : http://www.ache.org /Top-Issues-Confronting-Hospitals-2012.cfm). In Norway a hospital (St. Olavs Hospital) has implemented a Cisco ICT infrastructure to manage all communication and monitoring systems. The university is haled as one of the most modern in the world ( ICTEC : 2009: http://www.ictec.com/st-olavs-hospital-ict-infrastructure-and-managed-services-project_180.html). Short-range communication is a technology, where data is over a short distance, usually less than 100 meters, that has grown in popularity in recent years, with many new technologies appearing, and the improving of existing technologies. The expansion of short range communication technologies has created short range wireless communications that have some advantages over their wired counterparts, they are easy to set up in area’s where cabling is difficult to lay, as well as not requiring Line-of-Sight so they are able to be used inside building with ease. These technologies include Infrared, Bluetooth, ANT +, and Wi-Fi (ElectronicDesign: 2012 : http://electronicdesign.com/communications/fundamentals-short-range-wireless-technology). The major disadvantage of wireless networks are that any person with the inclination, expertise, hardware and software can "listen" in on the communication, and so all security comes form the encryption of the data sent via the network, this can require some expertise to implement, but most networks have encryption as standard.

These above mentioned short-range networks require a few fundamental components to be created. They require a source of the network, usually connected to a computing device that does most of the processing for the network, and end-user devices to allow end users to connect to the network.

The most important device is the source of the network as the network would not exist without that device. This device is usually a router or hub, and can be configured to only allow certain devices to connect. They can automatically allow connection and set up each newly connected device if required.

The central computing device (server) is the device that processes all network traffic, if processing is needed, end-users (clients) usually connect the a program running on the server through the end-user devices, and transfer the data via the network to the server program and that program forwards the data on to the appropriate recipient.

The end-user devices can be mobile phones, tables, laptop computers and desktop computers. These devices have advances in power and performance over the last few years, but have also increased in price. The computing industry is obsessed with power and performance, and so they focus on high-end devices that contain expensive processors, which make them very expensive. In resource constrain regions, whether it is a hospital, a rural community, and educational institution, these high-end computing devices are too expensive to run and replace.

IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

Health care is a basic human right, and as such having access to healthcare that can cope with the demand of the environment in which it is situated is an important factor in satisfying human rights, this can be said for any basic human right, including housing, and food, without these basics the human race cannot flourish, most wars start over resources, therefor satisfying the basic human rights, helps satisfy basic human needs, and therefor helps to create a world that is more at harmony, helping prevent wars over resources. The Study has implications that will resonate throughout the entire world, if only subconsciously, if it is a success, and the system can be implemented in a multitude of hospitals.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH DESIGN

.

This research will be carried out using a Qualitative Research Design. The research will focus on obtaining facts regarding the individual sections within the topic. Qualitative research is used to prove a hypothesis by means of experimentation, reasoning, and deduction. The reason I have decided to do my research using a qualitative approach is that the results are subjective; it also allows me to spend more time concentrating on the results when compared to a quantitative research approach. Qualitative research has the advantage that the research is based on proofs rather than assumptions or opinions.

METHODOLOGY

The Grounded theory approach will be exercised as it is an effective method approach to build new theories and understand new phenomenon; high quality theories emerge from this approach and data collection occurs over time resulting in more appropriate and meaningful results. It is the approach where a theory grounded directly in the empirical data is created, in this case a design for a system will be created based on the empirical data. This Methodology is particularly useful in this circumstance as the research question refers to a concept system that has not been described or imagined in this scenario in previous research papers. This concept will be based on an existing system but will be an adaption theory of the existing system.

DATA COLLECTION

Data Collection methods will include literary survey, interviews and survey. The literary survey will acquire all relevant data with regards to hospitals, communication technologies, and resource management in hospitals, thereby allowing for good knowledge of the topic and environment in which the proposed system should be able to operate. Interview will provide more direct information with regards to how hospitals manage resources and what systems they use. Other surveys will provide larger amounts of data to compare with the data found in the interviews and literary survey.

POPULATION AND SAMPLE

Hospital Staff will be my primary sample as this research is based around hospitals and will require information directly from that environment. External medical professionals and medical journals will become supplementary samples as they may provide information that the hospital staff may not be aware of, or unwilling to share.

DATA ANALYSIS

Coding will be used as the data analysis method, this method consists of three separate stages; Open coding, this looks at the data overall and identifies categories and sections of the data collected; Axial Coding, this combines the data in a new way to identify relationships between data within the phenomenon, thereby revealing the way the data under the sections are connected, and why they are connected; Selective Coding, this identifies the core category, the "heart" of the phenomenon, and the relations to all other categories are identified and explained.

DELINEATIONS AND LIMITATIONS

All research will be carried out in Belgium, and will not expand beyond the province on Limburg, as the it is the location in which I currently reside, and cannot afford the time to travel to other locations exclusively for interviews, if under exceptional circumstances results are acquired from any other location, it will be noted. The research will only take into consideration the resource constraints of financial capacity and staffing capacity, all other constraints will be ignored. The research will also not expand further into the healthcare industry, as the system will only be aimed at the hospital infrastructure.

ASSUMPTIONS

Assumptions will include that hospital staff are computer literate and have been trained and educated buy a higher education institution in the medical field. It will also be assumed that the hardware client devices proposed will be manufactured at the estimated price and will be available for the implementation of the proposed system.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONs

"Doctor-Patient" privileges will not be violated as there is no information required about the patients and their conditions, if the system is implemented a medical staff may be trained to enter all required information with regards to patients. All participants will be made aware of the intent of the study, and will be allowed to opt out whenever they choose, and may request to stay anonymous. All documents used in this research (including the research) will be kept by myself for a period of two years before disposal or re-visitation

CHAPTER OUTLINE/OVERVIEW

Chapter 1 focuses on the layout and structure of the research, it also gives a basic background and history of sections within the topic. A Preliminary literature study exists to further the readers understanding of the topic sections so that the reader is able to follow the logic throughout the rest of the research.

Chapter 2 focuses on all the information expanded and explained with regards to relevance and usage allowing the reader to understand the logic used within the research. This chapter expands on the knowledge gained in chapter 1.

Chapter 3 highlights the methodologies explain them in greater detail, as well as the procedure followed in this research to obtain the results, this chapter will use the knowledge gained in chapter 1 and 2 to validate the methods used.

Chapter 4 will describe the results and findings obtained through the methods and how the results are appropriate with regards to the topic and the limitations.

CONCLUSIOn

This chapter serves as an introduction to the topic on ITC infrastructure for hospitals, indicating the research question and the approach that will be used to answer the question. The Topic has been identified to have restrictions (low resource cost and Limburg, Belgium). The primary target for the research was identified as Hospital staff, with supplementary targets identified as private healthcare professionals.