Written by Robert Connely
New technology replicates information handling intelligence into small applications, benefiting a multihospital system in Michigan.
Healthcare is an information-rich environment, and while information systems help manage the deluge of data, the technology is still highly dependent upon labor-intensive processes. For each patient encounter, consider the staffing resources that are consumed to input, locate, access, distribute, analyze and store information. A vast amount of information is stored in multiple systems, but the intelligence of how to handle this information — getting the right information into the right hands at the right time — largely resides within the heads of the staffing resources that use the systems.
Written by James Coffin
Addressing the data explosion in healthcare requires a sound strategy for turning data into information.
There is a data explosion occurring in healthcare. Frost & Sullivan's "2004 Healthcare Storage Report" predicts that by 2010, medical centers will need to be equipped to hold almost 1 billion terabytes of data, or the equivalent of 2 trillion file cabinets worth of information.