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Advances in Clinical Information Systems--An Impact Analysis
Frost & Sullivan, March 2007
This Frost & Sullivan research service titled Advancement in Clinical Information Systems - An Impact Analysis analyzes key developments in CISs. It examines the most recent innovations introduced by companies in health information systems and advanced data processing algorithms developed by universities. This research service explores the technologies prevalent in the market and the current state of R&D. There is a special focus on trends within the vendor community, the opinions of the IT community, and the needs of end users.
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Clustered Server Networks Enhance the Efficiency of CIS
The impact of IT on the healthcare industry has been as significant as on other verticals such as banking, transportation, and retail. Hospitals are eager to increase the efficiency and accuracy of healthcare systems as well as reduce errors in data handling, and this has led them to adopt clinical information systems (CIS). Rapid information retrieval and easy management of multiple patient records make these systems a preferred option over conventional paper-based methods.
Computerized information systems have introduced seamless connectivity and smooth information flow across hospitals, avoiding time-intensive and cumbersome manual effort. However, with patient and customer expectations of CIS technology increasing, companies need to constantly innovate systems to make them more attractive. 'Vendor companies have recently introduced Web-based electronic medical records (EMRs) to enable end users to easily access critical patient data,' notes the analyst of this research service. 'There is also a distinct trend toward including billing and financial data along with clinical information as vendor companies aspire to give end users more comprehensive products.'
Clustered server networks are poised to play an important role in the evolution of CIS as the volume of clinical information expands and has to be stored in the form of pedigree charts. Information at the back end needs to be stored, managed, and archived in an efficient manner and users must be able to securely access this data whenever they need it. This was earlier achieved using mainframes, but the advantage of easy access has shifted the focus to server clustering. Using these networks, hospitals can store and archive massive amounts of information online by segregating them into different servers.
Security Issues Continue to Pose a Major Challenge
Wi-Fi and 3G technologies are set to have a substantial impact on the CIS domain by enabling easy and practically instantaneous information transfer. Wireless Internet, 3G, and other types of mobile telephony or communication nodes such as Blackberry are expected to allow users to effortlessly and swiftly access the online site where they can view or download clinical data. However, the online security of clinical information transfer continues to be a major challenge. 'The threat posed by hackers who use ‘brute force’ technology to break encryption algorithms is constant and considerable,' says the analyst. 'Given that the Bergofsky principle in cryptography states that all types of encryption can be broken by finding a particular standard 64-bit key using ‘brute force’ technology, these issues are likely to persist as long as no algorithm is written to defy this principle.'
Developments in nanotechnology are helping address the need for increased digital storage and archiving space within smaller hardware objects. This technology enables the creation of hard disks and electronic data storing devices that have larger digital space. These can be incorporated in older devices that typically store lesser volumes of data. As this becomes a reality, the development of PC hard disks with significantly increased electronic space is likely to make the process of handling large volumes of data within clustered server networks far more efficient.
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