Information Technology is the eternity of this world, period. There is no doubt that the rise of information technology has passed numerous advantages in various industries, and healthcare is no exception.
It is a well-known fact that Health institutions and medical companies are turning towards the application of IT through healthcare software systems for a better future.
Healthcare software connects to knowledge-based, decision-support IT businesses that offer compensation, administration, and feedback in the healthcare industry.
As per the 2019 report of the forecast by Meticulous Research, indicates that the healthcare IT market is predicted to increase at 13.8% CAGR within 2019 and 2027, with a value of $511 billion.
However, the report was issued before the outbreak of COVID-19, so the number might be higher than expected, as the healthcare apps have become more and more successful during the pandemic.
As it is reported that the majority of hospitals are now shifting to electronic health record (EHR) software for their primary storehouse of patient files. Nursing stations now employ appointment scheduling software for more reliable tracing and scheduling of shifts.
The more people are using it, the more important this software becomes for the market.
This blog post will help you to define the healthcare information technology system and the most popular Medical software that is practiced to monitor patients in the ICU.
Let’s start with the explanation of health information technology before we proceed with healthcare software in the medical world.
What is Health Information Technology?
Before we jump to the software, let’s first define what health information technology is? In simple words, Health information technology is the application of the IT industry to the healthcare world.
That means the applications and electronics systems that healthcare professionals and patients practice to store, administer, and examine health information.
In other words, you can define it as the comprehensive management of information amongst patients, surgeons, administration, character entities, and insurers.
The use of health information technology has always enhanced the quality and effectiveness of the healthcare industry; it encourages individuals and public health centers to increase the accuracy of diagnoses. So that they can give better treatment.
Apart from that, the software reduces costs and medical errors compared to manual errors, which improves the performance of both administrative and clinical processes.
Also, with quality and top-notch care, healthcare software contributes to saving your time and money.
With HIT, the time and effort you will consume on managing daily operations and administrative tasks could be reduced, which empowers your healthcare organization to be more focused on your efforts over patient treatment and health.
With this technology, you could expect faster prescriptions, information sharing, decreased paperwork, and more conventional follow-up to become more prolific and efficient.
However, there are several healthcare software systems that make easy lives for doctors as per the healthcare organization’s type of treatment and specific requirements.
So, before you start to pick the best medical software, you need to know the best different software types considering HIT.
These are most preferable to the healthcare software that is utilized by hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
Top 7 Most Popular Healthcare Software:
1) EHR
The first software we are going to discuss is Electronic health records or widely known as EHRs. This software is used for digitally storing patient information.
This medical software is used by hospital administration and clinics for assembling the complete medical history of each patient.
The use of this device and its help in the medical world has encouraged the government of many countries to make the use of this type of software mandatory for electronic health records.
These medical records of patients establish a secure and convenient way of saving medical records instead of stacking the pile of papers in the file room (Which sometimes turns out to be quite messy).
It is a noted factor that Electronic records have a minimal risk of loss of medical history or errored data or damaged over a long time compared to handmade documentation.
Also, with digital records you can avoid the risk of duplication of medical records, considering you will have only one file that could be modified over time.
The use of Electronic health record software can be done in clinics as well as hospitals. Furthermore, this software is practically integrated with hospital management software and practice management software.
2) Medical Equipment Management
The next one is the Management of medical equipment. This software advantages health facilities by enhancing the quality and profitability of medical devices and equipment in the hospital.
The aim of Medical equipment management software is to track and monitor the functionality. Also, it intends to suspend medical devices from the development to after the installation phase. With the help of this system, medical equipment downtime has reduced.
Features of Medical equipment management:
- Preventive maintenance scheduling
- Software equipment classification
- Generation of repair requests
3) Hospital Management System
The next one is the hospital management system. They are designed as a fully integrated system that has the capability to manage the entire hospital.
This software manages appointments and electronic health records for inpatient as well as outpatient departments.
The best way to use this software is for managing doctors’ schedules, their surgeries, other procedures, and various aspects related to them. This medical software can handle the labs and pharmacies connected to the hospitals.
The HMS systems maintain the rooms, recording rooms as occupied or empty, and undergoing subsistence. This way the task of allocating rooms and beds for patients becomes easier.
These systems are usually connected to the hospital website, so patients can use it to schedule their appointments, get access to their health records and medication plans, and control their prescriptions.
With new developments, the healthcare IT industry has developed multiple mobile apps to help the patient to schedule their appointments. And hospital administration to manage patients without being in the hospital through their smartphones.
4) Patient Scheduling
Patient scheduling software is strictly integrated with a patient portal. In this digital age, everyone prefers to be advanced, so the patients also like to schedule appointments themselves beforehand.
This software directs patients to log in to their account and schedule appointments without external help whenever they feel convenient, matching up the availability with the surgeons’ presence.
The benefit of providing patients’ accessibility to maintain their scheduling thoroughly reduces the phone traffic for administration where patients can find the specific time and date that goes with their time.
Scheduling online is much better than calling every time they want to make an appointment, this gives liberty to patients to make appointments at any time of the day, instead of being stuck between 9-5 time frames.
5) Medical Database Software
This software is quite similar to Electronic Health Record software, it also collects patients’ histories and treatment plans. However, the difference between medical databases software and EHRs is that the database software stores the information as per the disease, not patients’ profiles.
This software improves the doctors in these two certain areas:
- A) It helps them to make better treatment choices by cross-referencing a patient’s case with similar cases they are treating.
- B) Medical databases help doctors to educate themselves by evaluating clinical cases of a presented disease.
For instance,
Let say a dermatologist uses this type of software to survey all patients diagnosed with Atopic Dermatitis and then compare their symptoms, medications, and rehabilitation plans to come up with a better treatment for the patient to improve.
6) Medical Practice Management Software
Medical practice management software is an essential part of medical studies in today’s time. This healthcare software administers day-to-day procedures and streamlines clinical workflows in the hospital.
The report of Technavio records that the MPMS market is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of over 8% in 2021.
In this type of healthcare software, medical experts register and track patient information and method coverage and payment data.
7) Imaging And Visualization
Imaging and visualization are one of the biggest and essential parts of any medical procedure, whether it’s a simple x-ray or computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the need for this software always excites the medical staff.
This software is essential for patients’ information which surgeons can’t diagnose without the proper visualization of internal organs, but with these devices and software, it’s possible.
With this software, doctors can keep records of patients, their medical chronicle, conducted tests, or any medications provided.
As it is a well-known factor that without proper records of a patient’s history, a perfect facility also can be the risk of administering by giving wrongful medical dosages to the patient that may commence to more serious medical events.
Although the ever-expanding e-health system, types of equipment have moved from the pen and paper arrangement to electronic records that share inside systems facilities, and different company’s facilities.
Summing Up
This healthcare software is the most valuable tool for enhancing the way health organizations manage and deliver healthcare.
The application of IT in health endures a full spectrum of possibilities via providing the power and potential of computational systems such as data mining and digital analyses, it improves health administration and patient outcomes.
So with this healthcare software, it is the best time to take advantage of health information technology with various types of healthcare software.
