Question

Big Data raises many questions about security, ethical standards, and proper use of data in health information systems. Ensuring ethical standards means that rules have to be established, but also enforced.

Explain the types of activities you would implement in an organization you manage to ensure the proper use of data, particularly in light of the concerns Big Data raises. What safeguards would you recommend for collecting and retrieving healthcare data?

Answer 1

These are some activities that can be done:

1. Providers should start to improve their data capture routines by prioritizing data of valuable types for their specific projects.
2. Enlisting the data governance and integrity expertise of health information management professionals.
3. Development of clinical documentation improvement programs that educate clinicians about how to ensure that data is useful for downstream analytics.
4. Data cleaning will make sure that datasets are accurate, correct, consistent, relevant, and not corrupted in any way.
5. A hybrid approach to their data storage programs.
6. Healthcare organizations must frequently remind their staff members of the critical nature of data security protocols and consistently check who has access to high-value data assets to prevent malicious parties from causing damage.
7. Healthcare organizations should assign a data steward to handle the development and curation of meaningful data.
8. Organizations should be very clear about how they plan to use their reports to ensure that database administrators can generate the information they actually need.
9. Organizations must also consider good data presentation practices, such as charts that use proper proportions to illustrate contrasting figures, and correct labeling of information to reduce potential confusion.
10. Organizations should also ensure that they are not creating unnecessary duplicate records when attempting an update to a single element, which may make it difficult for clinicians to access necessary information for patient decision-making.
11. In order to develop a big data exchange ecosystem that connects all members of the care continuum with trustworthy, timely, and meaningful information, providers will need to overcome every challenge on this list.