1) Policies are written documents that mirror the administrators of a particular organization. In this case, the organizations are healthcare organizations such as hospitals and clinics. With healthcare informatics becoming such a big part of healthcare organizations, policies are being made to keep patients and staff safe. Healthcare informatics policy is directed at making care more effective, improving public health, and proper collection and analyzation of data to guide evidence-based practice. Since policies are reflections of administrations, they can change based on the direction a healthcare organization is heading or what their focus may be (Hebda, Hunter, Czar, 2019). For example, if a hospital is having an increase in medication administration errors, then their policy may focus on scanning all patients and medications prior to administration.             One of the biggest concerns of healthcare informatics is the privacy and protection of important patient information and policies on informatics have been aimed at reducing the risk of the security of that information being breached. Hospitals have policies such as not putting patient identifiers in emails, logging out of electronic health records once leaving the patients room, education on phishing emails, creating firewalls, having backup storages for patient information, audit trails for and specialized access for private charts. There are also policies on the recovery and retrieval of healthcare information in case of unplanned disasters. The AMIA identified six key health informatics policies: patient empowerment, HIT safety, workforce education, data sharing, quality measurement, and public health (Simpson, 2012).             The impact these policies have made on informatics have been steps in the right direction due to the importance and protection they place on informatics. They allow us to safely use informatics for better patient outcomes. Telehealth is also fairly new has new policies arising too. For example, at our hospital we use telephysch medicine for psychiatric patients in the emergency department. One of our policies is that all of our psychiatric patients must be assessed by a telepsychiatrist and their recommendation must be upheld regarding 51/50 holds. Using telemedicine in place in person consultations at hospitals that do not have in house specialties improves patient care because it saves time and money for both the patient and hospital. It is especially effective for time sensitive cases such as patients with stroke like symptoms in deciding whether or not to use TPA because instead of having to wait for a neurologist to arrive, the neurologist is able to instantly assess the patient via computer video chat and receive expert consults. References Hebda, T., Hunter, K. M., & Czar, P. (2019). Handbook of informatics for nurses and healthcare professionals. NY, NY: Pearson. Simpson RL. (2002). Nursing informatics. Issues in telemedicine: why is po.

1. 1)
Policies are written documents that mirror the administrators of
a particular organization. In this case, the organizations are
healthcare organizations such as hospitals and clinics. With
healthcare informatics becoming such a big part of healthcare
organizations, policies are being made to keep patients and staff
safe. Healthcare informatics policy is directed at making care
more effective, improving public health, and proper collection
and analyzation of data to guide evidence-based practice. Since
policies are reflections of administrations, they can change
based on the direction a healthcare organization is heading or
what their focus may be (Hebda, Hunter, Czar, 2019). For
example, if a hospital is having an increase in medication
administration errors, then their policy may focus on scanning
all patients and medications prior to administration.
One of the biggest concerns of healthcare informatics is
the privacy and protection of important patient information and
policies on informatics have been aimed at reducing the risk of
the security of that information being breached. Hospitals have
policies such as not putting patient identifiers in emails, logging
out of electronic health records once leaving the patients room,
education on phishing emails, creating firewalls, having backup
storages for patient information, audit trails for and specialized
access for private charts. There are also policies on the recovery
and retrieval of healthcare information in case of unplanned
disasters. The AMIA identified six key health informatics
policies: patient empowerment, HIT safety, workforce
education, data sharing, quality measurement, and public health
(Simpson, 2012).
The impact these policies have made on informatics

2. have been steps in the right direction due to the importance and
protection they place on informatics. They allow us to safely
use informatics for better patient outcomes. Telehealth is also
fairly new has new policies arising too. For example, at our
hospital we use telephysch medicine for psychiatric patients in
the emergency department. One of our policies is that all of our
psychiatric patients must be assessed by a telepsychiatrist and
their recommendation must be upheld regarding 51/50 holds.
Using telemedicine in place in person consultations at hospitals
that do not have in house specialties improves patient care
because it saves time and money for both the patient and
hospital. It is especially effective for time sensitive cases such
as patients with stroke like symptoms in deciding whether or
not to use TPA because instead of having to wait for a
neurologist to arrive, the neurologist is able to instantly assess
the patient via computer video chat and receive expert consults.
References
Hebda, T., Hunter, K. M., & Czar, P. (2019). Handbook of
informatics for nurses and healthcare professionals. NY, NY:
Pearson.
Simpson RL. (2002). Nursing informatics. Issues in
telemedicine: why is policy still light-years behind technology?
Nursing Administration Quarterly, 26(4), 81–84. Retrieved from
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=c8h&A
N=106956521&site=ehost-live
2)
With the rise in communicable disease, possible threats of
bioterrorism, and other chronic illnesses, informatics and public

3. health policies go hand in hand. Data collection and
analyzation through interoperability systems can provide so
much information that can help the entire population
nationally. “Public health informatics (PIH) is considered to be
one of the most useful systems in addressing disease
surveillance, epidemics, natural disasters, and bioterrorism”
(Aziz, 2017, p. 79). The government is essentially in control of
public health decisions and determines which polices and
guidelines will be enacted to abide by national standards.
Public health information systems will depend on available
resources and budget.
Currently, data collection comes from multiple different sources
including, surveys, facilities, surveillance systems, and data
collection systems such as health information exchange (HIE)
and health information organization (HIO) (Aziz, 2017).
Hospitals and clinics are often mandated to report specific
patient information, which can aid in disease prevention and
management. Although all this data collection aids in PHI,
“nonclinical data sources can help assist in identifying public
health trends as well” (Hebda, Hunter, & Czar, 2019, p. 426).
Surveillance systems collect patient data, which is then
interpreted and analyzed to look for specific patterns and trends
in diseases and injuries. This research can then provide insight
on ways to possibly prevent or mitigate damage from the
illness. Syndromic surveillance system is a specific system that
“collects symptoms and clinical features of an undiagnosed
disease or health event in near real time that might indicate the
early stages of an outbreak or bioterrorism attack” (Aziz, 2017,
p. 78). This information could then be conveyed to all national
health officials. HIE and HIO can also provide pertinent
information to the appropriate source, in the event of a natural
disaster, where paper documents may get destroyed. This would
be beneficial to PHI as well.

4. According to Aziz, the newest development in PHI is
“geographic information system (GIS), which uses digitized
maps from satellites or aerial photography to provide large
volumes of data” (p. 78). This also helps provide nonclinical
data such as location and spatial patterns. Another benefit for
PHI and data collection is the advance of
telemedicine/telehealth services. These services will hopefully
be able to provide direct patient data, via smart devices. So
many benefits exist with PHI that could provide information
pertaining to vaccines, cancer, communicable disease, and the
emergence of new diseases. This data would allow healthcare
officials to determine if there is a possible correlation between
patient location, diet regimen, or any other possible link
between the patient and the illness.
PHI plays a pivotal role in the health and well being of all
individuals. Funding and adequate resources need to be applied
to the PHI specialty in order for it to prosper and gain support
in the profession. Data collection, along with education, are
imperative to the management and prevention of disease and
possible threats.
References
Aziz, H.A. (2017). A review of the role of public health
informatics in healthcare.
Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences, 12
(1), 78-81. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedirect.com
Hebda, T., Hunter, K., & Czar, P. (2019).
Handbook of informatics for nurses and healthcare professionals
(6th
ed.)
. New York, NY: Pearson.

5. 200 words for each response