Hospital Management Systems (HMS), nowadays, is one of the most demanding and critical fields of software services in the healthcare industry. These days, it is next to impossible for any hospital or medical institution to function without an HMS that can be online 24×7. The task of coding these systems has become too complex and expensive for a single company or individual to handle. Also, this is the reason why most hospitals and healthcare providers are opting for an HMS solution.
According to the Grand view research report, the rising government initiatives and increasing demand from hospitals in the USA to deploy advanced IT solutions for effective operational efficiency are some of the key factors for the increase in the adoption of hospital information systems (HIS) in the Hospitals in the USA and that eventually affect the hospital information systems market in the USA and expected to grow by an overall 3.4% from 2018-2028
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Why is the HMS required?
Until recently, it has been a best practice for hospital management to have a manual process for managing patient information. The individual department would keep data on their patients as separate files in their file cabinets. When a patient would be admitted to any of the departments, the data of that patient was transferred from one department to another manually. This created a lot of paperwork and was time-consuming.
However, with the introduction of the Hospital Management System (HMS), all these processes have changed for good. Hospital Management System is a centralized system that provides information about a patient to all the departments, in real-time. This way, all the departments are updated about any change in the patient’s condition. Also, with HMS a hospital can perform quality control over their service providers and vendors. The adoption of HMS, therefore, created a need of using HMS all over the world and highlighted in recent research reported that during the COVID and even post COVID current situation by 2020, the global healthcare information systems market has significantly increased to approximately $ 57.1B and see the same trend in the future (Research View Report, 2021).
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Benefits of the hospital management systems if deployed!
Patient first – This is aparticularly crucial step and the most critical factor. A user is unhappy with the service offered by the institution and it takes a lot of effort to win their hearts back. Patient-first attitude means providing better patient care and satisfaction by providing patients with timely information. Equally important is the setting up of departmental norms in codifying best practices which include safety, cleanliness and hygiene.
Hospital Administration – This can be done through feedback from the patients wherein, the administration is kept updated about the status of patients and their treatment. In addition to these, it is also possible to keep track of the overall progress of individuals from admission to discharge. Corporate administration – It is not uncommon for doctors to be overworked these days as hospitals have become large entities with a lot of patients and staff members. This means that doctors often miss out on important updates and hospital information like staff welfare, patient feedback and the latest news. Another important feature is the smooth connectivity of multiple units with the administration so that they function like one big unit with a clear vision. Such systems keep a record of purchase orders and inventory enabling management to keep track of daily expenditures and enable to reduce costs making the operations more efficient and effective.
Detailed records – Another major feature is to maintain detailed medical records for the past 10-15 years which include results from all medical tests and x-rays conducted. These records may be required for various purposes like insurance, legal and other services. The hospital management system helps track deliveries and organizes their record keeping.
Keeping track of pharmacy – It is not uncommon to find hospitals which lack medicines or even the basics like files, chairs or tables. These software systems help in arranging medical supplies from purchase to delivery with proper tracking of medicines used by patients. They also facilitate e-prescriptions where the patients can get their prescriptions directly from the hospital without having to visit a doctor again. This makes it easier to remind doctors that they have not been given prescriptions for medicines, hence making the process smoother.
Hospital management systems can be very useful in all these aspects in addition to keeping records of vital medical data and assets and keeping track of specific departments and staff members. This can also help plan for upgrades and renovations of the hospital as well as disposing of the equipment inside the hospital.
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