A large provider group has been reluctant to invest in a cli…

A large provider group has been reluctant to invest in a clinical decision support (CDS) module to augment their HL7-compliant EHR system. As the IT manager for the practice, you recognize the potential benefits of investing in a CDS module—everything from improving patient out-comes to potentially increasing revenue—and are frustrated by their lack of interest. In a recent managerial meeting, the nurse manager discussed several adverse medication-related issues that had been reported to the practice. In one case a patient had been prescribed a medication they were allergic to, and in another case the patient experienced difficulty breathing due to a contra-indication between the new medication prescribed (ACE-inhibitor) and one that he was already taking (Lithium). The health information exchange standard that would be employed in a CDS would be the ______________________________.

In your role as an IT specialist at your hospital, you have…

In your role as an IT specialist at your hospital, you have been approached by the chair of the pediatric department to assist in the creation of a database for collecting information on a variety of childhood communicable diseases and vaccination status. You propose using a data warehouse, which would pull information from the hospital’s clinical repository. The chairperson is unfamiliar with these terms and asks for clarification. The chairperson states he is familiar with flat file databases and asks about their use for this project. You state that a relational database may be the better choice. Relational databases, by virtue of having less redundancy, protect data integrity better.

A large provider group has been reluctant to invest in a cli…

A large provider group has been reluctant to invest in a clinical decision support (CDS) module to augment their HL7-compliant EHR system. As the IT manager for the practice, you recognize the potential benefits of investing in a CDS module—everything from improving patient out-comes to potentially increasing revenue—and are frustrated by their lack of interest. In a recent managerial meeting, the nurse manager discussed several adverse medication-related issues that had been reported to the practice. In one case a patient had been prescribed a medication they were allergic to, and in another case the patient experienced difficulty breathing due to a contra-indication between the new medication prescribed (ACE-inhibitor) and one that he was already taking (Lithium). The CDS could have prevented the adverse medication issue by: 

George is an 80-year-old man in relatively good health. Howe…

George is an 80-year-old man in relatively good health. However, he sees many of his friends dealing with healthcare issues and how families sometimes bicker over the healthcare decisions of a loved one who is incapacitated. George would like to be confident that no issues like that would occur in the event of a decline in his mental function, so he is going to issue what type of legal document(s) that will be effective in the event he becomes incapacitated?