Assignment: Healthcare Professionals

Assignment: Healthcare Professionals

Assignment: Healthcare Professionals

Week 2 discussion Discussion Prompt 1 What opportunities do you see for CDS to facilitate the work of healthcare professionals? Explain how usability is important when integrating clinical decision support. Discussion Prompt 2 Discuss the importance of the user experience when implementing or changing components of health information technology. Outline a usability test for one module of your current EHR. Include the elements discussed in the chapter in your proposed usability test. Describe why you chose the methods you did.

The  comprises a wide variety of professions and occupations who provide some type of healthcare service, including such direct care practitioners as , , , ,  and , as well as  such as , , , and . They often work in hospitals, healthcare centres and other service delivery points, but also in academic training, research, and administration. Some provide care and treatment services for patients in private homes. Many countries have a large number of  who work outside formal healthcare institutions. , , and other  and support workers are also considered a vital part of health care teams.

Healthcare practitioners are commonly grouped into . Within each field of expertise, practitioners are often classified according to skill level and skill specialization. “Health professionals” are highly skilled workers, in professions that usually require extensive knowledge including university-level study leading to the award of a first degree or higher qualification. This category includes physicians, physician assistants, dentists, midwives, radiographers, registered nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, optometrists, operating department practitioners and others. Allied health professionals, also referred to as “health associate professionals” in the , support implementation of health care, treatment and referral plans usually established by medical, nursing, and other health professionals, and usually require formal qualifications to practice their profession. In addition,  assist with providing health care services as permitted.