Internalizing Problems (E.G., Anxiety, Depression)
APA References Assignment
First, list the topic you have chosen.
Topic: _________________________________________________________
Next, you will need to find four peer-reviewed journal articles published in 2010 or later. Each article should describe an empirical study. This means that the authors are describing findings from a new study. Review articles (those that summarize existing research on a topic) will NOT be accepted for this assignment. Make sure that each article you choose has a Method section, a Results section, and a Discussion section. Each article should correspond to one of four periods of the lifespan: (1) infancy, (2) childhood, (3) adolescence, and (4) adulthood.
You can access journal articles through MTSU’s library (https://library.mtsu.edu/home) using the “Scholarly Articles” tab, or you can select “Databases A-Z”, click “P” and use “PsycINFO” or “PsycARTICLES”. Another option is to use Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/). For each search, you should use at least two search terms which represent (1) your topic and (2) one of the four life stages (i.e., infant, child, adolescent, or adult). You may want to also include a third search term representing a domain of development that you’re interested in (e.g., “physical health”, “cognitive functioning”, “emotion regulation”). The library has several resources and videos that may be useful: https://library.mtsu.edu/tutorials.
Once you have chosen your four articles, you will need to closely read the Method section of each article to answer the following questions. For question #1, you should describe what the researchers used to measure your topic (e.g., a questionnaire or some other assessment). Be specific – for instance, if a questionnaire was used, you should state the name of the questionnaire or describe what the questionnaire assessed. For #2, you should describe at least one other variable listed in the Measures subsection. Once you’ve chosen your four articles, you’ll need to read each article’s “Method” section carefully to answer the questions below. For the first question, you should explain how the researchers measured your topic (e.g., a questionnaire or some other assessment). Be specific. For example, if a questionnaire was used, you should say what it was called or explain what it was used to measure. For #2, you need to talk about at least one other variable from the Measures section.
Informatics in health care and patient safety
Name
Institution
Informatics in health care and patient safety
The use of healthcare informatics has greatly improved the way services are given. Nurses and other people who work in healthcare facilities provide care that is better coordinated and more effective. Patients are the ones who will benefit most from the use of information technology in health care. But the same patients are also at risk of having their privacy broken. The use of technology is just as likely to have a data breach as any other field. The information about patients in healthcare databases is very important, so the people who work with the data need to be extra careful to avoid breaches. Because this is a sensitive subject, the government has laws and rules about how healthcare facilities should handle patient information. Healthcare informatics is important today because it has clear benefits, but the risk of a breach means that nurses need to be extra careful and follow the rules set by the regulatory institutions. In the article “32 Million Patient Records Breached in 2019,” Heather Landi says that this will happen. That’s twice as many as in all of 2018. That’s why Protenus Reports thinks there will be more breaches in healthcare institutions in 2019. (Landi, 2019). So far, there have been 31.6 million data record breaches, which is a scary number. The number is twice as high as the total number of breaches in 2018. Last year, there were 14.2 million records of breaches. In 2019, the US Department of Health and Human Services has found 285 cases of breaches. From 2016 until now, at least one breach per day has been reported in health care facilities. The article goes on to say that records of close to 20 million patients were stolen in this year’s biggest breach (Landi, 2019). The breach happened on the platform of the American Medical Collection Agency. The agency is a third-party company that gets paid by healthcare facilities on their behalf. The breach hurt a number of health care facilities. LabCorp, Quest Diagnostics, and Opko Health are some of the places. Before patient records were found on the “dark web,” no one knew about the breach. Hacking is the main reason why data is lost or stolen. Heather Landi says that hacking is to blame for 60% of the breaches in the first half of 2019. Because of this, hackers were able to get into the records of 27.8 million patients (Landi, 2019). Even though hackers are a threat, the article says that people who work inside the health care organization are also a risk to patients’ security and privacy. In 2019, 20% of the breaches have been caused by people on the inside. In fact, 3 million patient records are now in the wrong hands (Landi, 2019). People with access to the records have a good reason to do so. So, it’s not easy to find out when these records are being used in strange ways. Medical facilities have to use high-tech ways to find out if insiders are getting in without permission. The article says that it takes an average of 214 days to find out about a breach (Landi, 2019). When the information is found, it is already in the wrong hands. Some companies take up to five years to find out that their employees did something wrong. Many insider breaches show how important it is for healthcare facilities to do regular audits and training. Some of the people who will use the patient information may not know that it is their job to keep important patient information safe. They are constantly reminded of what they need to do to keep the patients’ privacy. 9% of the breaches were caused by third-party vendors, and 23 million people were affected. Hacking is also a big problem for third-party providers (Chang & Choi, 2016). The article talks about how important it is to make healthcare safer and more private. Patients shouldn’t be afraid to tell doctors important information, because that’s the only way to get proper and conclusive care. If nurses follow the law to the letter, there will be a lot less breaking of the law. Healthcare facilities also have a role to play in making their systems inaccessible to the intruders. Informatics in healthcare is a combination of information technology and nursing. By definition, nursing informatics is the integration of nursing information with information communication technology (Patel & Kannampallil, 2015). The main aim of informatics is to support the provision of health service to individuals. Informatics facilitates the processing of patient information to aid in the formulation of treatment methods and quick transfer of information from one point of care to another. Informatics is transforming healthcare in many ways. Health is exorbitantly expensive to many individuals. According to estimates, close to having of the expenditure is health goes to repeat procedures (Chang & Choi, 2016). Other expenses go to the traditional methods of sharing information, error in the delivery of care and delays in offering the services. An electronic system in the facility resolves such challenges. Informatics facilitates the quick transmission of lab results to the intended recipients and that reduces the risk of malpractices occasioned by delays. Informatics drives efficiency in a system where incompetence and obstruction existed. The reference of medicine as a practice stems from the fact that healthcare providers should constantly hone their skills and learn more each day. Healthcare informatics provides options to share patient information easily among professionals. The rapid passing of patient information back and for the between the medical practitioners enhances the delivery of services. Within the chain of care in health facilities, the efficiency of distinctive roles of the practitioners such as administrators and pharmacists depend on the fast transmission of information. Informatics also enhances the participation of patients in their own care. Patients can access their medical history and the recommendations by the doctors electronically (Chang & Choi, 2016). The empowerment provided to the patients gives them the perspective of taking care of their health more seriously. Informatics provides patients with access to care portals and they can educate themselves on their prognoses and diagnoses. The patients also keep tracks of their symptoms and required medication. The patients also interact with nurses and doctors more easily. Therefore, the likelihood of better outcomes is high. Healthcare informatics makes patients part of the healthcare team. One of the main criticisms of informatics is that it is making provision of care more impersonal each day. In the conventional form of medicine, doctors have regular day-to-day interactions with the patients. In informatics, the duty of care relies on algorithms and data. The data demonstrates the condition of the patients but the algorithms determine the order of offering treatment to the patients. So far, the effects of the method of treatment have not had a catastrophic turn. However, the practice of healthcare is becoming more and more impersonal each day. The required care depends on the accurate recording of patient information by practitioners with direct contact. Informatics also enhances specialization in healthcare. Today, patients receive care from close to a dozen people in a single hospital stay (Chang & Choi, 2016). The number of specialists required is on the rise because of the increased demand for better coordination. Numerous conversations such as the type of medication required, the appropriate nutrition, x-ray results and physical therapy session all require the input of a specific specialist. Unless each of the specialists has a single conversation, challenges are likely to arise and the patients might suffer from not receiving the required form of care. Healthcare informatics makes coordination a necessity. The most imperative input of infographics in healthcare is the enhancement of outcomes. The healthcare records lead to higher quality care because the team has better coordination and the diagnosis provided is accurate. The chances of errors are minimal with the application of informatics. Doctors and nurses enhance their efficiency and that frees up the time that they can spend with patients. The medical practitioners have more free time because the jobs that were manual in conventional medicine are now automatic. The healthcare facilities save on time and money. The governments, insurance companies, and the patients also save on medical costs. In essence, information technology is a key pillar in the present and future of healthcare. In the last two decades, most of the spending of automation on medicine only applied to administration (Chang & Choi, 2016). Informatics shifts the technological expansion now to clinical processes. Patient care is a primary need in the broadening of concepts in healthcare technology. To protect the benefits of healthcare informatics it is imperative to put certain measures in place to protect crucial patient information. Safety focused initiatives can enhance and improve the performance of the teams. The patient safety mostly involves limiting the likelihood of mistakes that can put patient information at risk. One of the ways of ensuring protecting patients in health practices is the establishment of a safety management system. Occupation Safety and Health administration guidelines oblige healthcare providers to formulate guidelines to protect patients from any form of risk (Jayaraman, Saleh, & King, 2019). To ensure compliance with the safety protocols, it is important to involve all employees in the process of decision-making. Additionally, administrators should conduct performance reviews. The assessments are an indicator of whether the organization is achieving the intended outcomes. The indicators are good because they lead to some adjustments that might be necessary. Additionally, health organizations can build rapid response systems. In the case of a breach, the system established outlines the right measures to react to mitigate the level of damage (Chang & Choi, 2016). The procedures also outline ways of recovering the data and commencement of service delivery in the health facilities. Healthcare administrators are also required to report incidents of the breach to the relevant oversight and investigation authorities immediately. The sooner the report the better. Patients also need notification if their private information has leaked. The information to the patients enables them to take safety precautions to protect crucial aspects such as their finances. One of the most targeted elements of information from patient records is credit card information. Making sure that all members of the organization understand the safety precautions in place is also critical. Apart from training the managers and the members of staff, the organization needs to go step further by providing regular updates because the hackers improve their methods each time. Each of the employees should understand the role that they have to play in maintaining patient safety standards. A clear outline of the safety standards should also have a set of consequences to accompany it. Employees who fall short the standards set in place should be ready for reprimand. However, the employees also need empowering to enable them to spot any elements of risk in the set up recommended by the health facility. The administrators should have an open door policy to discuss such challenges with the staff members. Healthcare facilities should also develop a safety compliance plan in the medical facilities. The system can help the administrators to monitor how the employees are following the laid down procedures (Chang & Choi, 2016). The healthcare boards can use the results of such assessments to adjust the policies according to the arising needs. The compliance programs improve the organization in many ways. For instance, the facility can build trust as an organization that is responsible and concerned about the interests of the patients. Secondly, the facility can make standards that are suitable for a particular community segment. An effective centralized compliance segment requires the involvement of officers to supervise the operations. The patients also need to understand the safety precautions in the medical facilities. Informatics has procedures to involve the patients in treatment. A well-educated patient can Help medical practitioners in avoiding certain medical errors. Additionally, it is important for patients to understand that certain health practices are applicable to individual practices. Empowered patients participate in their own recovery process and planning. Therefore, the role of medical providers is consultation and guidance. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a standard set by the government to protect sensitive information by patients. All entities that deal with crucial patient information should have security measures in place that comply with HIPAA (Chang & Choi, 2016). The rules protect the privacy of the health information of the patients and it allows facilities to adopt technologies that can improve the efficiency and quality of care. Nevertheless, the rules are flexible enough to allow health facilities to come up with more regulations that are suitable for individual settings. Technical and physical safeguards form part of the HIPAA regulations. One of the rules is that the medical facility should be in a physically secure location (Tenenbaum et al., 2016). Secondly, the policy limits the uses of any foreign forms of media such as cameras in medical facilities. The rules also impose restrictions on the transfer and disposing of any forms of media used in the health facilities. Technical safeguards include the use of unique identification procedures by the medical staff while accessing certain parts of the facility. The need for data security in health facilities has increased significantly over the years with the rise in the use of electronic patient data. Today, high-quality treatment depends on the acceleration of data from one practitioner to another. The introduction of informatics in healthcare has enhanced service provisions significantly. Therefore, going back on the gains made is not an option despite the numerous risks. Health facilities need to comply with government regulations and formulate more rules to protect patient data. Medical practitioners also need to take better care of the information entrusted to them. A practitioner should access the information only on a need basis. The government investigative agencies should also enhance the crackdown on hackers to protect the gain achieved in healthcare.
References
Chang, H., & Choi, M. (2016). Big data and healthcare: building an augmented world. Healthcare informatics research, 22(3), 153-155.
Jayaraman, R., Saleh, K., & King, N. (2019). Improving Opportunities in healthcare supply chain processes via the Internet of Things and Blockchain Technology. International Journal of Healthcare Information Systems and Informatics (IJHISI), 14(2), 49-65.
Landi, H. (2019). 32M Patient Records Breached in 2019. That’s Double all of 2018, Protenus Reports. FierceHealthcare. Retrieved from https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/tech/32m-patient-records-breach-2019-double-all-2018-protenus-reports.
Patel, V. L., & Kannampallil, T. G. (2015). Cognitive informatics in biomedicine and healthcare. Journal of biomedical informatics, 53, 3-14.
Tenenbaum, J. D., Avillach, P., Benham-Hutchins, M., Breitenstein, M. K., Crowgey, E. L., Hoffman, M. A., … & Ray, B. (2016). An informatics research agenda to support precision medicine: seven key areas. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 23(4), 791-795. You do not need to list all of the measures in the study; only list the one(s) you are most interested in and plan to describe in your final paper. For #3, you should list the ages of the participants when your topic was measured and/or the age when the other variable(s) of interest were measured. At least one of these ages must fall in the designated developmental period.
Make sure that each of your articles meet the following characteristics: (1) published in a peer-reviewed journal, (2) published since 2010, and (3) is an empirical study (NOT a review paper).
Infancy – list title of article & DOI link: ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________
1. How did the researchers measure your topic? _______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________
2. What other variable(s) did the researchers examine in relation to your topic? ______________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________
3. Age(s) at which relevant variables are measured: ____________________________________________
Childhood – list title of article & DOI link: _________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________
1. How did the researchers measure your topic? _______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________
2. What other variable(s) did the researchers examine in relation to your topic? ______________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________
3. Age(s) at which relevant variables are measured: ____________________________________________
Adolescence– list title of article & DOI link: ________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________
1. How did the researchers measure your topic? _______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________
2. What other variable(s) did the researchers examine in relation to your topic? ______________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________
3. Age(s) at which relevant variables are measured: ____________________________________________
Adulthood – list title of article & DOI link: _________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________
1. How did the researchers measure your topic? _______________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________
2. What other variable(s) did the researchers examine in relation to your topic? ______________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________
3. Age(s) at which relevant variables are measured: ____________________________________________
Finally, you should include an APA-7 style reference list on the next page. Resources for creating an APA-7 style reference list are posted on D2L. Be sure to include all 4 references, in alphabetical order by the first author’s last name.
References
