CHP 485 ODU Health Informatics Discussion

Word count: at least 300 words

Case:

A mid-sized county in the northeast United States is facing an alarming surge in reported cases of a perplexing illness. The illness is characterized by symptoms that include high fevers, severe gastrointestinal distress (vomiting, diarrhea), and a distinctive systemic redness across the body. It seems to be communicable, but that has not been confirmed or ruled out.

Local hospitals and clinics are grappling with the influx of patients, some having to be hospitalized to treat symptoms, causing considerable concern among healthcare providers and the community at large that the root cause is not yet known. The sudden surge in cases has raised red flags and sparked fears of a potential widespread public health crisis.

The state, county, and local public health departments have been alerted and are collaborating with those hospitals and clinics with impacted patients. However, the effective management of this crisis is hampered by challenges in collecting, analyzing, and disseminating data efficiently, primarily because each organization involved does not have the technical ability to share data and information. As a result, there are difficulties in analyzing identify patterns, potential sources, and causative factors contributing to the illness and communicating throughout the county and state.

In your initial post, answer the following, which are aligned with the module objectives for the application:

Define Health Informatics and Its Role in Public and Population Health:

Discuss how the absence of technical ability to share data among hospitals, clinics, and public health departments hampers the crisis response.

Subsequently, explain how health informatics could support this case, including the hospitals, clinics, and public health departments involved.

Explore Informatics for Population and Public Health:

Build on #1 to introduce specific public and population informatics you learned about in both the required and external instructional resources that could be essential to support the hospitals, clinics, and public health departments.

Examine the Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom (DIKW) Paradigm:

Examine the Intersection of Technology and Healthcare from an Ethical Lens:

Putting a macro examination of the case, what are your overarching thoughts on the case, including identifying any ethical issues with data and the application of health informatics?