Interview a Health Informatics Professional

The security and confidentiality of healthcare information has become increasingly important as technology has become more accessible to the population at large. For this Application, interview a healthcare technology professional who works with the security and confidentiality of healthcare information. During the interview, explore his or her daily practices with respect to patient confidentiality and security.

With these thoughts in mind, ask the health informatics professional questions about the following topics:

• Have you encountered a situation where an ethical issue, such as patient confidentiality or computer security, was compromised? If so, what were the legal and ethical ramifications? How was the situation handled?
• What security and patient confidentiality practices have been implemented in your area of the organization?
• How do you ensure that you are not involved with unethical situations?
• What are your thoughts about the need for an integrated electronic health record system (EHRS)? Support your position with your own experiences as both a patient and healthcare professional. What benefits from an electronic health record system do you see? What challenges or roadblocks?
• How does the application of project management methodology benefit an organization and, in the context of a health care organization, how does it facilitates the implementation of that organization's information technology solutions?
• Additionalquestionsandinsightsareencouraged.

Reading Materials:

Course Text: Hebda, T., & Czar, P. (2013). Handbook of informatics for nurses & health care professionals (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Chapter 1, "Informatics in the Healthcare Professions" (Read pp. 68, "The Definition and Evolution of Informatics," and pp. 1419, "The Push for Patient Safety.")

Article: Bodenheimer, T., & Grumbach, K. (2003). Electronic technology: A spark to revolutionize primary care? Journal of the American Medical Association: JAMA, 290(2), 259264. Retrieved from http://auth.waldenulibrary.org/ezpws.exe?url=http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/290/2/259 Article: Friedman, C. P. (2009). A "fundamental theorem" of biomedical informatics. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association: JAMIA, 16(2), 169170. Retrieved from http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mnh&AN=19074294&site=ehost-live&scope=site