{"id":2371,"date":"2017-05-31T01:08:15","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T01:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orionhealth-blog.local\/?p=2371"},"modified":"2024-08-13T02:39:04","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T02:39:04","slug":"balancing-speed-and-security-in-patient-data-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/orionhealth.com\/global\/blog\/balancing-speed-and-security-in-patient-data-access\/","title":{"rendered":"Balancing Speed and Security in Patient Data Access"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In an increasingly inter-connected world most people would be accustomed to having immediate access to most crucial information at the click of a button.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For many people, handling of protected information isn\u2019t something they\u2019d need to concern themselves with, in the medical industry, however, heavily restricted access to data like Private Health Information (PHI) is commonplace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This commitment to privacy, however, does sometimes hamper how quickly clinicians can access a patient\u2019s medical information. If you\u2019re injured while on holiday and need to go to a hospital, they won\u2019t have immediate unrestricted access to your PHI; likewise, your GP back home won\u2019t have full oversight of your overseas treatment. As you go between different specialists, clinics, DHBs or even countries, the staff you see in one location won\u2019t be able to see information from another without specifically requesting it and some procedural delay. While this impediment is part of a necessary procedure to protect patient privacy, it does invariably create delays. The need for expedient patient information necessitates some doubling handling with patients often being asked the same battery of diagnostic questions with every consultation. This is a useful solution but may have some limitations of its own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if you forget a piece of crucial information or accidentally provide incorrect or misleading information about your medical history and symptoms? What if a specific situation, like a mouth or brain injury, limits your ability to accurately provide crucial information to hospital staff?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an ideal system, all your medical data could be stored within a single database. The benefits of a system like this would help in a multitude of ways which could address not only the limitations of data access for clinicians but also help with concerns about patient information relay. Leveraging the power of integration software, we can help clinicians to vastly improve a patient\u2019s treatment and overall experience from triage to discharge. An integration engine designed to form a network between the numerous databases and programs that are already being used within care facilities can do exactly this; this can provide immeasurable benefit to clinicians and patients alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With security at the front of every decision, one key factor here is access. While it\u2019s crucial for clinicians to have access to vital information at point-of-care, it\u2019s important to ensure that same information is not made available publicly. The solution is having interfaces designed and customised for different user-types. By determining the interface that different parties use, you can control the possible mishandling of that sensitive data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An optimal setup may look something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A patient arrives and they, or their current caregiver, are directed toward a digital triage form where they can see a list of diagnostic questions. Upon submitting this information this is then forwarded to a triage nurse or clinic manager who can determine how urgently they need care and whether they should see a specific doctor or specialist. When this is submitted, it can be automatically forwarded to the clinician in question who, with the correct access limitations, can then pull up additional patient data from a previous visit or referral and determine what information is most pertinent to their patient before, during and after the consultation. If necessary, a patient can also provide enormously useful insights after being discharged by way of a medical monitoring device or even a phone app where they can passively or regularly submit feedback into a one-way patient update portal. In one consultation, there are four different interfaces with different layers of access:<\/p>\n\n\n\n