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M$1 May 31, 2009 05:37 AM

Is the biggest use of the computer in the medical field for record keeping?

Where are the largest investments in computer equipment in the medical field?
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Interesting: robbrown, easyeboy

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May 31, 2009 07:55 AM
As a critical care nurse, I'm hard-pressed to think of any areas in the medical field not heavily using computers. Of course, the advantages of computers in record-keeping are obvious.

Financial and administrative departments use computers heavily in the same way their non-medical cohorts do--spreadsheets, e-mail, calendar scheduling, etc.

Radiology takes and views digital X-rays and CT scans and MRI's on computer monitors and doctor can access their patients chest X-ray from workstations anywhere in the hospital.

Pharmacy uses computers heavily for checking doses & interractions; keeping track of narcotics dispensed from Pyxis units on the floors; printing labels for drugs so they are given to the right patient.

Nurses use computers a lot and are preparing to do so even more. The Obama administration's emphasis on the electronic medical record has brought it to the forefront for the public, but most hospitals of note have either already converted to all electronic charting & patient history or are planning to do so very soon. (My hospital rolls out the next big section of electronic charting next week.)
Computerized monitors not only display but record the vital signs of each of my ICU patients. Wireless connections let the pharmacy send new med lists to our "smart" IV pumps to decrease med errors.
Home health nurses chart on laptops from their clients' homes. MD's double-check dosages for meds on their PDA's before writing the orders. Even housekeepers and laundry have their schedules computerized. Of course our time cards, time clocks and pay are all computerized in addition to all our schedules.
The quantity of computers in a typical operating room can barely be counted. When I call dietary to order my patient food from the menu, they pull up my patient's diet order on their computer to make sure he hasn't ordered too many carbs if he's diabetic. Lab has its own complex computer system to manage all the thousands of lab draws and results they handle daily. Then of course we look up the results on the computers in the nurses station.

I could go on, but surely you get the idea.
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May 31, 2009 01:41 PM - Fact Refuted
"but most hospitals of note have either already converted to all electronic charting & patient history or are planning to do so very soon"
I'm in a unique position where this is the business I'm actually in. And although it would be nice to say most have started the truth is this just isn't so. Although there has been a push in the past to get everything electronic it simply isn't true for the smaller hospitals and clinic which actually make up the majority still. The problem is even at their cheapest these systems are expensive to implement. The smaller sites just don't have the budget to do it.

I'm actually afraid that Obama's plan may see the close of many of these locations because if the do not upgrade they will no longer be able to get medicare/aid dollars.

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June 01, 2009 04:35 PM
Sorry, pazaq, you are right. I didn't choose my wording carefully enough. That little phrase "of note" was supposed to exclude the small hospitals you mention.

Now that I examine my dismissive attitude, I think I have a bit of unfair prejudice against these little hospitals. I work in a Regional Burn Center and we regularly get direct admits from tiny outlying hospitals. I afraid my slightly negative mindset towards them stems from the fact that when we receive these patients, we often find that the information we received from the outlying hospital was misleading, or, worse, the patient has (at times) not received competent care. Despite this, I would not wish all these little hospitals closed. No one wants a situation where the nearest ER of any size is 2 hours away.

Maybe you could design and market a cheap but effective system that would be a panacea for the electronic woes of the small hospital system?? : )
You'd make a fortune!

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May 31, 2009 06:35 AM
Yes, in Computer Equipments there is a Large investments in Medical field. There are Many Reasong for This, are as follows:

1. Computer Equipments in Medical field is used for Records of various things like, Patients record, Medicines records, Diseased Records, New Born Baby Records, Death Records.and many more.

2. Computer Equipments in Medical field is also used in making Surgeries, Operations, X-Rays, etc. This is used in Helping Patients.

3. It is Used to Gather Information About Various Kind of Dieses and Symptoms of that diseases, Cause of Diseases, How to Tackel The Dieseases.

So in Many Ways Computer Quipments are required in Medical Field. New Technologied Computer Equipments are used so A Huge Amount of Investment Needed. so A Large investments in computer equipment in the medical field is Needed

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May 31, 2009 11:28 AM
@icechristine is pretty much on the mark.

To add to that, Radiation Oncology is almost entirely computer driven. While some places may use actual films for tumor localization, they are more often fused in the computer and the treatment plans, even at the meanest location, are CAD driven.

Most neursurgical procedures use radiologic imaging that is computer assisted also.

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