Week 8

In all honesty, I thought that writing a paper is writing a paper no matter which way you spin it. I tend to stick what works for me—which was research and write as I go. When focusing on one part of my paper, I would research and learn what I needed to know in order to complete the portion. It might sound a little backwards to the way some people work, but it is easier for me to have the knowledge fresh in my mind and make everything cohesive. However, the last 7 weeks had us researching various sources and summarizing as we went. I picked up quite a few pointers that made data searching more efficient. In the process of gathering data from the various sources and documenting the process, it really made the final paper effortless. Admittedly, this would be the longer route in completing a paper overall, but it would even out the workload throughout a project or assignment. In researching how medical informatics benefits process improvement within managed healthcare, I gained a deeper understanding to the do’s and don’ts. Working in the industry, I think this research will provide a deeper understanding of the bigger picture of healthcare rather than just my portion that I work with daily. The industry is constant changing guidelines, regulations, requirements, so it will always pose a challenge to have all the answers to all the questions, but I feel more equipped with what I’ve gathered throughout this course. 

Week 7

How can the use of Medical Informatics be used to improve the processes throughout the healthcare industry in the United States?

In this week’s research, I found additional information pertaining to my research question. With Healthcare Reform, there are quite a few incentivized programs to encourage data efficiency. The data is utilized to analyze and determine growing trends among patients and effectively manage a patient’s care. In order to do so, information needs to be readily available, easily accessible, detailed, and properly stored based on the type of data. The sources this week are all credible, as they are either provided by government agencies, or healthcare providers currently involved in the creating of administrative guidelines, and government standards for healthcare management. The industry is ever changing, which only makes sense to head towards information technology to be able to accommodate the change in the shortest amount of time possible—as to not interrupt any process of a patients care. The industry has made strides in managing data today, but this is still a work in progress. 

Week Six

This week’s reading material reiterated the importance of citing sources. Plagiarism, regardless of intent is serious. Other people put in the work, the research, and provide information for others to utilize, so credit is due to the original owner. Without citing the original works referenced, you are essentially taking credit for work that is not yours. Additionally, it is important to protect your own work for the same reasons. Shared information and findings is crucial when conducting research. It shaves off time by utilizing the work or research that someone prior has conducted—allowing you to build on and further develop on your topic. Not providing the original source and crediting the original author can also lead others to believe they are citing the correct person(s) when they are not. When in doubt, look it up!

Week Five

In the recent search for empirical articles, I found similarities amongst the readings. While nothing directly speaks against the rise of Health Information Technology (HIT), the direction is a cautious one that speaks to HIT being ineffective if not properly implemented. Although, this might seem as if this may be off topic of my research question, it is actually in alignment to providing further insight by way of bring focus to the things that are ineffective. Technology in the healthcare industry is only as useful as the effectiveness of the process, people, and quality of data. With a solid partnership between all stated the implementation of medical informatics would streamline the beginning to end process and effectively reduce costs.

Compared to the searches conducted prior, I believe I have landed on great insight by negative researching—what does not work, or what makes it ineffective—oppose to the straight forward approach of what makes it good.

Week Four, Assignment Two

This week, my research conducted was more or less the same as the previous week; however, instead of searching for e-Books, I searched for peer reviewed journals. My search tactics where continuing to use the "AND" and the "*" search functions to aid me in narrowing down my results to be more driven towards my interests. I performed my search with "Medical Informatics" AND "*Improvement" AND "Health*. One thing I did take note of while searching for peer reviewed journals, was that the results were on the subject all around the world. Since every country
has different healthcare structures, I had to redo my search with the above keywords and the addition of United States. The business processes I imagine with differ greatly in other countries, so this was important to specify.
Interestingly enough, I found an article that started off almost Anti-Medical Informatics, which I thought was pretty interesting. Essentially, it uncovered a lot of Health Information Technology that has been implemented simply just to "keep with the times" and actually did not have any added value, and sometimes caused additionally costs and rework. While my focus has been on Medical Informatics to improve the healthcare experience, I turning away from the fact that, a value added process implemented along side with Health Information Technology is essentially to allowing a system to run smoothly.Medical Informatics is not a stand alone fix to any process.

Week 3, Assignment 2

Based on the reading assignment in Badke’s book, I learned a few new search methods that proved to be quite helpful. My research topic is basically, “know-how” to begin process improvement on the business side of managed healthcare. Utilizing the keywords in combination with “AND” and “OR” searches helped to filter out the information that didn’t necessarily apply to my research. Additionally, understanding the hierarchy of information reduced the results further.

My first search was simply: “Process Improvement” AND “Healthcare” OR “Health Administration”

This brought up fewer results than the original search for the entire topic; however, there were several eBooks that were completely off target from what I was seeking.

My next search was: “Improvement” AND “Health*” AND “Process”

I came up with even fewer results that seemed to be targeted to what I was looking for. One keyword I noticed that kept reoccurring in my searches of related topics was “Medical Informatics”. While I am familiar with Medical Informatics, it didn’t occur to me to utilize this as a keyword.

My final search was: “Improvement” AND “Health*” AND “Medical Informatics”.

Trying to come up with other keywords proved to be the most frustrating initially, but I was able to actual find what I was looking for by way of the broader searches, eventually narrowing in to what I was seeking. With the new search, I found two useful eBooks that are right on track. Although, one encompasses healthcare as a whole, there is a specific chapter that references tools, and applications that are useful in identifying process improvement.

LBSU 302_Assignment 2

Initially, when researching on process improvement, I discovered how vague of a search that was, as I ended up with every subject under the sun. Eventually I narrowed my search down to business process improvement, data collection process improvement—healthcare, process improvement, and quality improvement is where I landed. Ultimately, I was able to identify specific steps and strategies to analyze when and where improvement in processes and quality can be made. I can probably afford to narrow this down a bit further, but because I want to be able to utilize these findings industry wide and not limit it to a specific department; I am aiming towards researching the matter as it pertains to managed care as a whole. Some of the documentation reviewed has been useful in outlining the quality and process improvement initiatives that need to take place among several smaller subsystems rather than a process from beginning to end, as there are so many moving pieces involved. The initial documentation found was sufficient enough to identify the direction I want to research, but further research would prove beneficial to drill deeper into specifics. I am hoping for the end result of being equipped with the knowledge to identify tools, tactics, and the most efficient routes to streamline a process with quality results within the various subsystems in a managed care setting. 

Introduction

Hello, and welcome to my blog for LBSU 302 at Brandman University. My name is Marlena D. Chairez and I am working towards my Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership. This is only my second class with Brandman University, as I have recently transferred in from Vanguard University. While I've managed to turn what should have been two years of school into four with all my indecisiveness, I think I have a handle on the "What I want to be when I grow up" part of my life finally. I am currently a Business Analyst with a fortune 14 company, and I plan to grow into a leadership position within the company--supposing I play my cards right.

Ultimately, I want to pursue a leadership role within my current department with a focus on process improvement. There are opportunities within all organizations that have room for streamlining a process or workflow. I find that my interest lie within process efficiency. I have never been a fan of doing a task for the sake of doing it, which is a common factor in my industry. Learning how to properly document process improvement as well as implementation would be an aspect I would like to research further.