IMS - Hospital Information Support System (HISS)

1.A Loughborough lecturer caught a cold in the IM&S course. On returning to the UK, he went to his doctor, who arranged for him to be admitted to hospital for checks against Deep Vein Thrombosis. In the UK, the hospital information support system (HISS) then comes into operation.

In the light of the case study presented in the course materials, discuss how an hypothetical hospital information system could support the requirements of the different actors involved. (Nov 02 Qn 1)

The UK's National Health Service (NHS) is a huge and complex organisation, whose operations and strategic focus could be greatly enhanced by the well focused application of IT to support improvements in productivity, management effectiveness and, ultimately, the quality of care delivered to the patient.

One of the most visible manifestations of the NHS's commitment to the focused application of IT to improve its operational performance has been the Hospital Information Support Systems (HISS) initiative, launched in December 1988 by the NHS Executive.

The National Health Service Norfolk and Norwich Un...

English: A deep vein thrombosis of the right leg. ...

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, a Nationa...

The objective was -

'to investigate how comprehensive and integrated computer systems can provide the high quality information that is required by all major acute hospitals in the United Kingdom,

for the costing and pricing of services,

to facilitate the clinical audit,

improve the monitoring of outcomes and the quality of patient services &

help hospital managers organise their services more effectively' (NAO, 1996)

In today's complex integrated healthcare delivery scenario, hospitals face a multitude of challenges:

Balancing effective, high-quality service delivery with speed, cost and efficiency

Meeting customer demand for information, and better services

Coping with increased workload while handling staff shortage

Handling information security

Harnessing technology, for handling the aforesaid issues

Thus, the aim of HISS is to use a network of computers to collect, process and retrieve patient care and administrative information from...