Computers are good for health

Because of the large investments, planning, time and training involved in installing computers, most large hospitals in the country computerise only those functions related to financial management — like billing, payrolls, and the like — while ignoring its potential in other crucial areas of the hospital’s functioning.

This must change. The world over, computer applications are fast becoming the norm in the medical sector, especially in areas like patient management, medical records, utilisation review and risk management. Computers simplify the logistics of tracking patients through the hospital, help enhance the decision-making abilities of medical personnel by making clinical and management information available in a usable format.

Online data entry, file maintenance, editing or correcting of information on a file and so on, can all be easily achieved by using a computer terminal. A computerised medical records and utilisation review system provides a method to track and chart a patient’s progress since you can easily abstract and indent information. Thus, detailed and summary reports can be produced for all phases of hospital/patient/physician activity.

A computerised medical record system, for instance, can maintain the profile of each patient, provide a location file for medical records, assign medical record numbers automatically, accumulate data from out-patient and in-patient activity, remind doctors of incomplete charts, produce periodic indexes for diseases.

And the dividends of such systematising are manifold. A western study done in 1979 compared the progress of two sets of patients — one for which computerised documentation was made available and the other for which records were maintained manually. It clearly showed that patients with computer records spent fewer days in the hospital.

But making optimal use of computers in hospital management is a complex business. The activities for which computerisation is envisaged will have to be decided and a system developed for each. Staff must be trained in the use of the system and people will be have to be made responsible for the routine tasks of data entry, analysis, maintenance, and feeding in back up data.

But it is worth all the effort. Above all, computers have an undoubtedly important role in medical auditing. They greatly facilitate the collection and management of accurate and relevant information, which is crucial for effective hospital management.

The writer is a senior health administrator in Delhi and the author of a book on medical auditing