1. HEALTH
INFORMATION
SYSTEMS (HIS)
NKOSINATHI LUNGU

2. Health Information Systems
(HIS) which is really where
information systems meet
healthcare to help optimise the
acquisition, storage, retrieval and
usage of information in health
and biomedicine.

3. Health Information Systems have
many advantages some of which
include

4. Advantages of Health Information Systems
 Data Centralisation: HIS help to keep all
data centralized bridging geographical
barriers as any patients files can be
accessed from any hospital or clinic
provided they are connected to the central
database.

5. Advantages of Health Information Systems
 Increased Efficiency: this is a result of
easy accessibility of the patient’s
information such as patient histories as
there is no need to wait for the physical
file to be brought. It also eliminates some
clerical processes such appointment
reminders and laboratory result
notifications.

6. Advantages of Health Information Systems
 Security and Confidentiality: HIS help
improve the security of patient health
information as they usually require
authentication to be accessed whereas
anyone with access to the records room can
access the patient’s physical files. There are
also levels of access that is to say doctors
and lab personal can see certain information
like diagnostic test results while the cashiers
can only have access to patient’s financial
data.

7. Advantages of Health Information Systems
 Storage and Access Capabilities: With
electronic files there is potential for
increased storage capabilities and the files
can be accessed by multiple sites at the
same time.

8. Advantages of Health Information Systems
 Increased Accuracy: HIS can be built
with the ability to detect and flag results
that seem out of range or even life
threatening drug combinations. The
detecting of abnormal results can help
with accuracy but does not completely do
away with human error during data entry.

9.  As with most things there is always the
other side of the coin to consider and HIS
are no exception they too have been found
to have numerous disadvantages some
which are:

10. Disadvantages of Health Information Systems
 Cost: The biggest problem associated
with HIS is costs. HIS are quite pricy for
many reasons there is the actual system
which in most cases needs to be custom
developed and this will be expensive, then
there is the hardware that will be used to
house the system that will also run up the
cost. It doesn’t end there users will need
to be trained on how to use the system and
then there will still be maintenance costs.

11. Disadvantages of Health Information Systems
 Learning curve: Some people are
resistant to change and even after the
training they might be hesitant to use the
new system as it might have a lot to learn

12. As can be seen HIS have lots of
advantages any hospital, clinic or
healthcare facility would benefit from
them. The main downside to HIS
seems to be the cost especially at a
time when most health facilities re
looking to trim their budgets
implementing HIS seems like a huge
expense but really when you look at
all the benefits it is worth it.