Background of the Study
According to Georgiou, Williamson, Westbrook (2006) a medical test result information system is a means for E-health care that facilitates management of the workflow of medical tests. The ultimate objective is to store patients’ results and provide healthcare professionals with a quick and accurate access to them. Only eligible people with access permittance are consent to access the system, thereby maintaining confidentiality of patients’ files. Specific objectives include:
1- Establishment of a paperless environment while maintaining a digital Recording
2- Optimize utilization of medical resources at the medical center
3- Increase efficiency of medical care outcome
4- Monitoring and control the medical laboratory workflow process
The strengthening of medical information processing capacity in resource-limited settings is very important. It is believed that the best way to do this is by building sustainable laboratory capabilities that will provide access to high quality, rapid, and affordable diagnostic tests for the care, treatment, prevention and surveillance of three major ailments which are: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria.
Evaluations of medical reporting systems to date have measured their impact on those health establishments that have point-of-care access to the system via internet, local area networks, or other forms. In these settings, they have been shown to decrease result delivery times (RDTs) of laboratory results, reduce redundancy in resource utilization and provide faster and more complete notification for public health purposes. Shorter RDTs have been associated with decreased treatment time, mortality, morbidity, and length of hospital stay.
Effective medical information communication strategies must address the needs of a heterogeneous group of users, and overcome challenges in relaying timely information to even the most peripheral sites.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
A baseline assessment found that most hospitals do not have an efficient recording and information sharing system of test results. the traditional flat file organization is still in place and the system makes it difficult to search for patient’s file. The consequence of this delay may bring about high mortality rate and bad reputation for the hospital. Test results are very vital as they enable the doctors to know the kind of treatment to administer, however they take time to arrive, and patients could still experience risky delays unless programmatic aspects are also addressed. Therefore, a medical information system is needed to address the problem of getting information about the medical test result of patients. This system has been shown to decrease the number of reporting errors, most importantly eliminating missing results.
1.3 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to design and implement a medical test result information system
The following are the objectives of the study:
1.4 Scope of the Study
This study covers the design and implementation of a medical test result information system.