A

MINI PROJECT REPORT-2

ON

Effects of Information Technology on Inventory Management in Healthcare Organizations

For the partial fulfilment of the requirement for the

award of the degree of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

DR. POOJA GOEL SIMRAN ARORA
2001520700118
2020-2022

MANGALMAY INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT & TECHNOLOGY

GREATER NOIDA (U.P.)

Dr. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY,

LUCKNOW

1
 Mangalmay Institute of Management & Technology
AN INSTITUTION OF MANGALMAY FOUNDATION TRUST
Campus: 8 & 9, Knowledge Park – II, Greater Noida (U.P.) Ph: 0120-2320400, 2320401, 2320680

Institution Office : C – 116, Sector – 39, Noida – 201301 (U.P) Ph: 0120-2500381, 2572237, 2570428

e-mail: [email protected], Visit us at: www.mangalmay.org

Certificate

This is to certify that Ms. .SIMRAN ARORA , is a regular student of MBA 1st year, and had
successfully completed his mini project entitled “Effects of Information Technology on Inventory
Management in Healthcare Organizations’’ for partial fulfilment of the curriculum for the award
of the degree of Master of Business Administration from Dr. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM
TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW, is an original work done by her.

Dr . Pooja Goel Dr.Shweta Kulshetra

Supervisor HOD (MBA) Director

2
 Student Declaration

I SIMRAN ARORA bearing of APJ University, Lucknow, enrolled as student of MBA(2ND SEMESTER)
at Mangal may Institute of Management & Technology, Greater Noida, solemnly declare that the
project report titled “Effects of Information Technology on Inventory Management in
Healthcare Organizations” embodies the results of original research work carried out by me and
the same has not been submitted in any form partially or fully for award of any diploma or degree
of this or any other University/Institute.

SIMRAN ARORA
ROLL NO - 2001520700118

3
 PREFACE

As part of MBA curriculum and in order to gain practical knowledge in the field of management, we
are required to make a report on Effects of Information Technology on Inventory Management
in Healthcare Organizations”. The basic objective behind doing this project report is to increase
our knowledge regarding the monetary policy of India.

In this project report we have included various concepts, effects and implications regarding celebrity
endorsement to the financial autonomy of India.
Doing this project report helped us to enhance our knowledge regarding the work in to the attitude
of the public regarding the consumer budget. Though this project report we come to know about
importance of team work and role of devotion towards the work.

4
 Index

S.NO TABLE CONTENT PAGE NO .

1
Chapter-1 6-19
Introduction
2 Chapter-2 20-23
Objective, scope and importance of
the study
3 Chapter -3 24-32
Research methodology and data
analysis
4 Chapter -4 32-34
Conclusion and recommendations

5 Bibliography 35

5
 Chapter -1

INTRODUCTION

Healthcare information technology (HIT) has been defined as “the application of information
processing involving both computer hardware and software that deals with the storage, retrieval,
sharing, and use of health care information, data, and knowledge for communication and decision
making”.

Health information technology includes various technologies that span from simple charting, to more
advanced decision support and integration with medical technology. Health information technology
presents numerous opportunities for improving and transforming healthcare which includes; reducing
human errors, improving clinical outcomes, facilitating care coordination, improving practice
efficiencies, and tracking data over time. Since the original IOM report was published, there has been
an accelerated development and adoption of health information technology with varying degrees of
evidence about the impact of health information technology on patient safety.

This review is intended to summarize the current available scientific evidence on the impact of
different health information technologies on improving patient safety outcomes. This review might
be useful for clinicians and healthcare policy makers when making evidence based decisions on
procurement and implementation of such technology to improve patient safety. This review
considered studies that were conducted in the healthcare settings both inpatient and community
setting, with an intervention of any of the following; electronic physician’s orders (CPOE), clinical
decision support (CDS), E-prescribing, electronic sign-out and hand-off tools, bar code medication
administration (BCMA), smart pumps, automated medication dispensing cabinets (ADC), electronic
medication administration record (eMAR), patient data management systems (PDMS), retained
surgical items detectors, patient electronic portals, telemedicine, electronic incident reporting, and
electronic medical record (EMR). Our primary outcomes of interest were patient safety, medical
errors, adverse events, medication errors, adverse drug events, and mortality. The priority was given
to systematic reviews, meta-analysis and randomized clinical trials. If such studies were not identified
then other types of experimental studies or epidemiological study designs including; non-randomized
6
controlled trials, quasi-experimental, before and after studies, prospective and retrospective cohort
studies and case control studies.

Studies were excluded if they met any of the following criteria: high risk of bias, studies that were
conducted in non-clinical settings, cointerventions with non-health information technology
interventions, not evaluating patient safety outcomes, qualitative or narrative studies.

The search strategy was conducted to find both published and unpublished studies. The search
strategy included Medline, Embase, Cochrane Database. Studies published until January 2017 were
considered for inclusion in this review. Initial keywords used were: Electronic Medical Record
(EMR), Electronic Physician’s Order entry (CPOE), Clinical Decision Support (CDS), E-prescribing,
Electronic Sign-out and Hand-off, Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA), Closed Loop
Medication Administration, Patient Data Management Systems (PDMS), Retained Surgical Items
Detectors, Patient Electronic Portals, Telemedicine, Electronic Incident Reporting, Intelligent
Infusion Devices, Smart Pump, Programmable Pump, Automated Medication Dispensing,
medication error adverse events, adverse drug events, adverse drug reactions, patient safety, medical
errors. Studies were assessed for methodological validity and risk of bias using the Cochrane
methodology prior to inclusion in the review.

COVID-19 has become an unprecedented disruption to all facets of the healthcare industry in
a very short amount of time. Although the healthcare technology industry has been slow
growing in the past, innovation is needed to deal with the pandemic. AI in healthcare, as well
as other important technologies, are critical to resolving the crisis and for generating future
growth.

To better understand where the healthcare technology industry is going, studying key tech
trends is paramount. Although proven systems are often preferred for their reliability,
businesses are always looking for new ways to improve their performance, productivity, and
efficiency.

Now, let’s talk about healthcare technology trends in 2021.

7
Trend #1: Telemedicine

COVID-19 has greatly accelerated the use of telehealth resources. In April of 2020, 43.5% of
Medicare primary care visits utilized telehealth methods rather than in-person visits. One of
the major benefits of telehealth over in-person alternatives is that it reduces contact between
patients, healthcare workers, and other patients. Wearable devices enable healthcare workers
to have real-time information on patient data while they remain at home.
More importantly, telehealth’s growth appears likely to continue even after the pandemic is
over. 71% of patients in the United States considered telemedicine at the beginning of the
pandemic, and 50% had already utilized virtual appointments. With telehealth already rising in
popularity in the previous year, the pandemic was a major boost to the industry’s development.
This boom in telehealth seems likely to break $185.6 billion by 2026.
The most important aspect of telehealth’s success is patient adoption. Since most patients are
comfortable with telehealth solutions, it’s clear that the industry has a strong future.

The most robust telehealth services are provided through telemedicine apps. One of the most
important technologies behind telemedicine apps is WebRTC, an open-source API-based
system to connect web browsers with mobile applications. One of the most important aspects
of WebRTC that makes it essential for telemedicine apps is its versatility. This can enable
useful features like text and video chat, screen sharing, and file transfer.
Electronic health records (EHR) are important to integrate into your telemedicine app. This
allows patients and healthcare providers to see patient medical records in the app. Interactive
Voice Response (IVR) is useful for the app to relay communication to pat ients through digital
speech. Google fit and Apple HealthKit integration also presents valuable opportunities for
allowing the app to access existing health information available on a patient’s own smartphone.
Cloud-based server solutions are also critical for all of the above processes to function.

When building a telemedicine app, it’s important to consider what features it should have. Some
of the most important features are security, location services, appointment management,
video/audio communication, secure messaging, healthcare provider reviews, visit history, and
wireless testing through wearable integration. From security to accessibility, these features are
essential when considering the needs of a telemedicine app.
8
Trend #2: Artificial Intelligence against COVID-19

Artificial intelligence plays a critical role in the fight against COVID-19, including areas like
pandemic detection, vaccine development, thermal screening, facial recognition with masks,
and analysing CT scans.

THERMAL SCREENING

According to the FDA, non-contact infrared thermometers and other kinds of thermal screening
systems use a variety of methods to determine the temperature of objects like humans. AI can
quickly parse through many people at once to identify people with high temperatures. This can
help to identify symptomatic individuals.

FACIAL RECOGNITION WITH MASKS

Deep learning systems in facial recognition technology have improved enough that they can
identify individuals with masks with accuracy of up to 95%. Even though large numbers of
people are wearing masks, facial recognition is not concerned with whether or not they are
wearing masks.

CT SCAN ANALYSIS

Human error is a problem in CT scan analysis. Artificial intelligence can detect pneumonia
caused by COVID-19 in chest CT scans via multinational training data for machine learning.

Trend #3: The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)

Various devices and mobile apps have come to play a critical role in tracking and preventin g
chronic illnesses for many patients and their doctors. By combining IoT development with
telemedicine and telehealth technologies, a new Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) has
emerged. This approach includes the use of a number of wearables, including ECG and EKG

9
monitors. Many other common medical measurements can also be taken, such as skin
temperature, glucose level, and blood pressure readings.
By 2025, the IoT industry will be worth $6.2 trillion. The healthcare industry has become so
reliant on IoT technology in 2020 that 30% of that market share for IoT devices will come from
healthcare.

Trend #4: Privacy Issues

Privacy is an extremely important issue in health technology, especially with regards to HIPAA
compliance in 2020. Although cloud computing can make storing and retrieving data more
efficient, regulations to secure Protected Health Information (ePHI) are very strict and
complying with them can be very difficult.
Remote communication with patients is especially important during the COVID -19 public
health emergency. Some telehealth technologies are not fully compliant with HIPAA which
can raise challenges for patient privacy. Although the Office for Civil Rights at the Department
of Health and Human Services are currently exercising discretion on how these rules are
enforced, it is still important for these technologies to be as compliant as possible.
The slack in enforcement of HIPAA rules is only in good faith. Healthcare providers should
ensure that they are still following the regulations as best as they can, only missing the bar
where they have to. For example, there are some non-public facing technologies in use by some
providers to communicate with patients such as FaceTime and Skype.

If a healthcare provider wants to use an existing system to exchange ePHI with patients through
third party software, they will have to obtain a business associate exception with the vendor
which can be tedious and difficult. There still is no guarantee that the third party program can
fully protect patient data.

Electronic physician’s orders and E-prescribing

Computerized physician order entry entails the use of electronic or computer support to enter
physician orders including medication orders using a computer or mobile device platform.
Computerized physician order entry systems were originally developed to improve the safety of
medication orders, but more modern systems allow electronic ordering of tests, procedures, and
10
consultations as well. Computerized physician order entry systems are usually integrated with a
clinical decision support system (CDS), which acts as an error prevention tool through guiding the
prescriber on the preferred drug doses, route, and frequency of administration. In addition, some
CPOE systems may have the feature of prompting the prescriber to any patient allergies, drug-drug
or drug-lab interactions or with sophisticated systems it might prompt the prescriber towards
interventions that should be prescribed based on clinical guideline recommendation (example venous
thromboembolism prophylaxis). A meta-analysis evaluating the effectiveness of CPOE to reduce
medication errors and adverse drug events in hospitals found that the implementation of a COPE with
clinical decision support resulted in significant reduction in medication errors (RR: 0.46; 95% CI
0.31 to 0.71) and adverse drug reactions (RR: 0.47; 95% CI 0.35 to 0.60). Similarly, studies
conducted in community based outpatient services showed comparable results in reducing
medication errors. The use of hard-stops as a measure of forcing function and error prevention in
CPOE systems has been studied and was found to be effective in changing prescribing errors.
However, the use of hard-stops resulted in clinically important treatment delays.

The use of a stand-alone CPOE without CDS does not seem to reduce medication errors. Studies that
have evaluated the use of a basic CPOE system without a clinical decision support system showed
that it did not improve overall patient safety or reduce medication errors.Published research
demonstrates that COPE systems are one of the most rigorously evaluated health information
technologies, with a high level of scientific evidence regarding the reduction of medication errors,
but this benefit is only consistent when used in combination with a CDS system.

Clinical decision support

Clinical decision support provides the health care professional with information and patient-specific
information. This information is intended to enhance the decision of the healthcare provider and is
rationally filtered and presented to the healthcare professional at appropriate times. Clinical decision
support includes a range of tools to enhance decision-making and the clinical workflow. These tools
include notifications, alerts and reminders to care providers and patients, clinical guidelines,
condition-specific order sets, patient specific clinical summaries, documentation templates,

11
investigation and diagnostic support, among other tools. A Cochrane systematic review concluded
that the use of on screen reminders for physicians resulted in minor to modest improvements in
process adherence, medication ordering, vaccination, laboratory ordering and clinical outcomes.

Physicians tend to frequently ignore alerts from clinical decision support systems. A study evaluated
18,115 drug alerts in the Boston area and found that 33% of alerts were ignored by the ordering
physician. Several clinical trials have studied the effect of different CDS system modifications to
improve physician’s compliance to alerts and have found that “tiering” and “automation of alerts”
resulted in improved physician’s compliance to CDS alerts. A meta-analysis studied reasons for why
some CDS systems succeed and improve patient outcomes and why others do not, and concluded
that CDS systems which provided simple advice were less likely to succeed, while the odds of success
were greater for CDS systems that demanded the healthcare provider to justify the reason when over-
riding CDS advise. The odds of success were also better for CDS systems that provided advice
simultaneously to patients and practitioners. In addition, CDS systems that were evaluated by their
developer rather than third party developers were more likely to be successful. Published research
demonstrates consistent high-quality evidence that CDS systems improve quality of care and patient
safety but the results may vary with different system designs and implementation methods.

Electronic sign-out and hand-off tools

Sign-out or “hand-over” communication relates to the process of passing patient-specific information

from one caregiver to another, from one team of caregivers to the next, or from caregivers to the
patient and family for the purpose of ensuring patient care continuity and safety. Breakdown in
handover of patient information has been found to be one of the leading root causes of sentinel events
in the United States. Electronic sign-out applications are tools used as standalone or integrated with
the electronic medical record to ensure a structured transfer of patient information during healthcare
provider handoffs. Two systematic reviews evaluating outcomes of electronic tools supporting
physician shift-to-shift handoffs concluded that most studies supported using an electronic tool with
an improvement in the process of handover, fewer omissions of critical patient information and
reduced handover time when using the electronic tool with few low-quality studies assessing patient
outcome measures. The authors in both reviews also noted that a significant number of the included
studies were not well designed and further evaluation using rigorous study designs is needed.

12
Bar code medication administration

Bar code medication administration systems are electronic systems that integrate electronic
medication administration records with bar code technology. These systems are intended to prevent
medication error by ensuring that the right patient receives the right medication at the right time.
Furthermore, there are varying levels of sophistication among existing barcode systems. For example,
some software produces alerts when sound-alike or look-alike medications may be confused. Others
provide clinical advisories for specific medications when scanned, and others may assist with
documentation (namely, recording drug administration in the eMAR and other relevant clinical
details).

Our literature search did not find any randomized controlled clinical trials on the use of barcode
medication administration or closed loop medication administration. The highest level of clinical
evidence on this technology is based on observational or quasi-experimental studies. A systematic
review of quasi-experimental studies found that bar code medication administration when integrated
with electronic medication administration records may reduce medication administration errors by
50% to 80%. However, the systematic review did not elaborate on whether the included studies were
evaluated for the quality of their methodology. The review also noted that there is a limited data on
the use of barcode technology on pediatric and outpatient setting as most studies have been conducted
in an inpatient adult setting. Another systematic review conducted a meta-analysis of studies
involving BCMA which found that implementing BCMA resulted in an overall reduction in
medication errors by 57% (OR=0.425, 95% CI: 0.28-0.65, p<0.001). However, this result should be
interpreted with caution as studies involved in the meta-analysis had a high degree of heterogeneity.
Although BCMA automates and improves documentation of medication administration, there is a
moderate to weak clinical evidence on its efficacy in reducing medication errors. Further robust
studies are needed to make a conclusion. Healthcare organizations also need to consider the impact
of implementing BCMA on their workflows.

Smart pumps

Smart pumps are intravenous infusion pumps that are equipped with medication error-prevention
software. This software alerts the operator when the infusion setting is set outside of pre-configured
safety limits. The only published randomized controlled trial on the impact of smart pumps on
13
medication safety has shown that there was no statistical difference between activating the decision
support feature on or off the smart pump. The authors had explained that this was likely in part due
to poor compliance of healthcare providers to infusion practices. A systematic review of quasi-
experimental studies concluded that smart pumps may reduce programing errors but they do not
eliminate such errors. The review also found that hard limits were more effective than soft limits in
preventing medication errors. This was explained by the high override rate of soft limits. Further
robust studies are needed to make a conclusion of the efficacy of smart pumps on reducing medication
errors and improving patient’s safety.

Automated medication dispensing technology

Automated dispensing cabinets (ADC) are electronic drug cabinets that store medication at the point
of care with controlled dispensing and tracking of medication distribution. Automated dispensing
cabinets were fist used in hospitals in the 1980s, but have evolved over time to include more
sophisticated software and digital interfaces to synthesize high-risk steps in the medication
dispensing process. Automated medication dispensing cabinets have been successfully used as a
medication inventory management tool that help in automating the medication dispensing process by
minimizing the workload on the central pharmacy and keeping better track of medication dispensing
and patient billing. The impact of ADC on patient’s safety is limited, as there is only one published
controlled trial, which found that the use of ADC resulted in a 28% (p<0.05) reduction in the rate of
medication errors in a hospital critical care unit (RR: 0.7; NNT: 4). Detailed analysis revealed that
most reduced errors were preparation errors. The automated dispensing system did not reduce errors
causing harm. Automated dispensing cabinets seem to reduce medication preparation errors in critical
care setting. Although the level of evidence is high, it is however only limited to critical care setting.
Further controlled studies are needed to make a conclusion on the impact of ADC on medication
safety in other settings.

Retained surgical items prevention technology

There are various technologies that are used to enhance the prevention of retained surgical items
which include: bar coding and radiofrequency (RFID) tagging of surgical items. A systematic
14
review identified 3 studies that evaluated technologies preventing retained surgical items. One study
was a randomized control trial on the use of barcode assisted sponge count technology which found
that there was no difference between the intervention group and the control group, but the time to
conduct the count was significantly longer in the intervention. Another study evaluated the RFID
tagging of surgical items and found statistically insignificant results. Currently, there is insufficient
clinical evidence to recommend for or against the use of such technology. The use of such
technologies must not be considered as a stand-alone procedure and must be supplementary to
manual counts due to many reasons which include cost, confusion with older non-tagged devices,
and wand technique with RF and RFID systems.

Patient electronic portals

A patient portal is a secure online application that provides patients access to their personal health
information and 2-way electronic communication with their care provider using a computer or a
mobile device. Numerous studies have shown that patient portals improve outcomes of preventive
care and disease awareness and self-management. However, there is no evidence that they improve
patient safety outcomes.

Telemedicine

Telemedicine is defined as the use of telecommunication technologies to facilitate patient to provider

or provider to provider communication. Communication maybe synchronous with real-time 2-way
video communication or asynchronous transmission of patient clinical information. In addition to
communication, telemedicine may provide health information that is collected remotely from
medical devices or personal mobile devices. This information may be used to monitor patients, track
or change their behaviour.

Synchronous telemedicine

Virtual visits are real-time 2-way audio/video communication between a healthcare provider and a
patient. Numerous systematic reviews have studied the impact of virtual visits on patient outcomes
in critical care, chronic disease care, and psychiatric care. All have showed that telemedicine is as
effective as face to face care with regard to specific clinical outcomes but there is limited evidence

15
regarding patient safety outcomes. An e-consultation is an electronic communication between the
patient’s primary care clinician and a specialist using a secure communication platform. This
technology facilitates guidance from the specialist regarding the management of the patient without
the need for referring the patient. There is limited evidence about the efficacy and safety of e-consults,
but studies have shown that e-consults may reduce patient wait times for specialist appointments and
opinions.

Remote patient monitoring

Studies evaluating community based Remote patient monitoring (telemonitoring) have shown that it
improves patient outcomes for certain chronic conditions including; heart failure, stroke, COPD,
asthma and hypertension. Patient data management system (PDMS) are systems that automatically
retrieve data from bedside medical equipment (namely patient monitor, ventilator, intravenous pump,
and so forth). The data is subsequently summarized and restructured to aid healthcare providers in
interpreting the data. Recent advances in integration have allowed PDMS to be integrated with
clinical decision support and the patient’s electronic medical record. A systematic review studied the
clinical impact of PDMS and found that such systems increased the time spent on direct patient care
by reducing the time spent on charting. In addition, PDMS systems reduced the occurrence of errors
(medication errors, ventilator incidents, intravenous incidents, and other incidents). The review also
found that 2 articles reported an improvement in clinical outcomes when a PDMS was integrated
with a clinical decision support system. Research shows that telemedicine technology seems to
improve clinical outcomes for certain medical conditions and, seems to enhance accessibility to
healthcare services and foster patient-physician collaboration. Apart from the limited evidence on
PDMS, the impact of telemedicine on patient safety does not seem to be very clear.

Electronic incident reporting

Electronic incident reporting systems are web-based systems that allow healthcare providers who are
involved in safety events to voluntarily report such incidents. Such systems can be integrated with
the electronic health record (EHR) to enable abstraction of data and automated detection of adverse
events through trigger tools. Electronic incident reporting systems potentially have the following
advantages; standardize reporting structure, standardize incident action workflow, rapid

16
identification of serious incidents and trigger events, while automating data entry and analysis.
Published research shows that healthcare organizations that have moved to an electronic reporting
system have experienced a significant increase in reporting frequency. Incident reporting systems
may improve clinical processes, but there is little evidence that electronic reporting systems
ultimately reduce medical errors.

Overall impact of EMR on patient safety

Numerous studies have considered the outcomes of implementing an electronic medical record on
healthcare quality and patient safety, with a majority of studies showing favourable results. Although,
some studies demonstrated negative outcomes which continues to evoke dispute. Campanella et
al published perhaps the largest and most recent met analysis on the impact of electronic health
records on healthcare quality and patient safety, which included 47 studies. The results favoured the
use of electronic medical records. The met analysis showed that organizations which implemented
electronic health records had a 30% higher guideline adherence (RR= 1.33; 95% CI: 1.01 to
1.76; p=0.049), a reduction in medication errors by 54% (RR=0.46; 95% CI: 0.38 to 0.55; p<0.001)
and a reduction in adverse drug reactions by 36% (RR=0.66; 95% CI: 0.44 to 0.99; p=0.045). The
meta-analysis did not find any impact on overall mortality.

Discussion

There is substantial evidence that implementing an electronic medical record reduces medical errors
and improves patient’s safety. Computerized physician order entry and CDS are probably one of the
most beneficial health information technologies for improving patient safety. In addition, ADC
systems and PDMS seem to improve patient safety in critical care setting. Currently, there is
insufficient evidence to reach a conclusion on patient safety outcomes for the following health
information technologies; electronic sign-out and hand-off tools, smart pumps, bar-code medication
administration, retained surgical items detectors, patient portals, telemedicine and electronic incident
reporting. It is worth mentioning, that there is evidence that the aforementioned technologies seem
to improve healthcare processes and non-safety outcomes Table 1 summarizes the evidence on
various HIT technologies on patient safety.
17
Table 1

Summary of the evidence of Health Information Technology (HIT) on patient safety

Published studies on health information technology exhibit variation in outcomes between different
organizations when using the same technology. This has been attributed in the literature to the
operationalization of health information technology within the complex adaptive health care system.
Sitting and Singh suggested a conceptual socio-technical model that accounts for key factors which
influence the success of health information technology interventions. The 8 dimensions of their
model are human-computer interface, workflow and communication, clinical content, internal

18
organizational policies, people, hardware and software, external factors and system measurement and
monitoring. The first 3 domains have been found by the Joint Commission to lead to 80% of health
information technology sentinel events and serious adverse events and the Joint Commission
subsequently recommended actions to improve HIT by focusing on 3 areas: safety culture, process
improvement, and leadership. The ONC has also published a series of guides called the “SAFER
guide”, which addresses electronic health record safety in a variety of areas
(https://www.healthit.gov/safer/safer-guides).

19
 Chapter -2

Objectives of the study

• To ensure adequate, qualitative, preventive & curative health care to people of the State.
• To ensure health care services to all particularly to the disadvantaged groups like scheduled
tribes, scheduled castes & back ward classes.
• To provide affordable quality healthcare to the people of the State, not only through the
allopathic systems of medicine but also through the homeopathic & ayurvedic systems.
• To ensure greater access to primary health care by bringing medical institutions as close to
the people as possible or through mobile medical health units, particularly, in the underserved
& backward districts.
• To improve health care of the State
• To eliminate diseases like polio & leprosy from the state & prevent as well as control other
communicable diseases
• To reduce maternal, infant & neo-natal mortality rates
• To guarantee to the people of Orissa free treatment( including free medicines) for certain
major communicable diseases
• To improve hospital services at the primary, secondary & tertiary levels in terms of
infrastructure, drugs & personnel
• To impart training to doctors, nurses & other paramedical staff to upgrade their skills &
knowledge to improve quality health care in the state and improve medical education in the
State.

Specific objectives

i. To determine the effects of information technology on effective inventory management in

Healthcare organizations.

ii. To find out the effects of effective inventory management to customer satisfaction in

healthcare organizations.

20
 iii. To determine the relationship between staff skills and effective inventory management in

hospitals.

iv. To identify the effects of documentation system on effective inventory management in

healthcare organizations.

Importance of the study

The authors of this review recommend a comprehensive framework for organizations looking to
improve patient safety outcomes when using health information technology which includes the
following:

1. Health Information Governance. Organizations must establish a health information oversight

mechanism that includes leadership and relevant stakeholders. In addition, organizations need to
ensure that their health information plan is coordinated with the organization’s patient safety and risk
management plan.

2. Safety Risk Identification. Organizations need to identify areas that health information technology
might aid in improving patient safety namely, medication safety, guideline adherence, and so forth.

3. Stake-Holder Involvement: Stakeholders need to be involved in all phases of health information

projects from planning and implementation until continuous improvement. The most important
stakeholder must be the system end-user and process owner.

4. Informed Decision: Organizations need to review the cost effectiveness of suggested technologies,
which includes conducting an evidence based decision and an evaluation of the current information
technology infrastructure including software and hardware.

5. Sufficient Training: Organizations need to ensure that all relevant line staff receive sufficient
training on the use of the proposed health information technology.

6. Gradual Implementation: Rolling out the technology in a gradual stepped approach is crucial to
avoid disruption of current processes and systems.

21
 7. Continuous evaluation and monitoring of patient safety outcomes: Organizations need to measure
patient safety outcomes on a continuous basis especially during the initial implementation to ensure
that the new technology achieves its intended outcome.

8. Technology optimization: Organizations need to modify and finetune the implemented technology
based on user feedback and patient safety outcomes.

9. Regular technology updates: Organizations must ensure that health information technologies are
continuously updated to comply with recent best clinical practices, regulatory standards, and
technical stability.

Scope of the study

If government agencies, pharmaceutical sectors, insurance organizations, hospitals and other

healthcare related institutions appeal to you, then you should definitely pursue MBA in Hospital
Management. After completing your graduation, you can find employment opportunities in areas like
medical colleges, health insurance agencies and hospitals. The responsibility that you will have as a
healthcare manager is to be involved in the planning, supervising and directing the daily operations
that happen in the healthcare industry that you are working in. You may also be given the
responsibility of facilitating the daily financial operations.

A few career options that lie ahead in front of a healthcare management student are:

• Medical Director: The job of a medical director is to make sure that proper and timely administration
of treatment at blood banks, clinics, hospitals and other places of healthcare is given to the patients.
He/she also takes care of the patient’s grievances. A medical director also takes care of the medical
ethics and ensures that everything is in accordance with the ethics.
• Hospital Administrators: The job of a hospital administrator is to ensure that all the services that
are provided by the healthcare institution run smoothly and effectively. Hospital administrators also
make sure that timely treatment is given to the patients.
• Healthcare finance managers: As the name suggests, a healthcare finance manager takes care of
all the financial activities of the healthcare institution. Some of these activities include financial
planning, budgeting, reporting daily activities related to finance and financial analysis. The job of a
healthcare finance manager is very dynamic and the healthcare manager should constantly be updated
about the latest regulations in healthcare and insurance policies.
22
As mentioned before, hospital management is going to face a huge demand and if you pursue this
course from a good university, your skills will be recognised for the value you provide to the industry.
Therefore, an MBA in hospital management is one of the best career options that you can opt for.

Study limitations

We studied the impact of a broad array of health information technologies which yielded studies with
heterogeneous methodologies and interventions. Other sources of variability in the reviewed studies
could be due to different vendors, software, quality, usability, and settings of implementation. Most
studies on health information technology were in English, and we limited our search as such, which
might result in the exclusion of relevant international articles.

In conclusion, health information technology improves patient safety by reducing medication errors,
reducing adverse drug reactions and improving compliance to practice guidelines.

23
 Chapter – 3

3.1 Research methodology

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood
as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. So, the research methodology not only
talks about the research methods but also considers the logic behind the method used in the context
of the research study.

1.Research Design

Descriptive research is used in this study because it will ensure the minimization of bias and
maximization of reliability of data collected. The researcher had to use fact and information already
available through financial statements of earlier years of our country and analyse these to make
critical evaluation of the available material. Hence by making the type of the research conducted to
be both Descriptive and Analytical in nature. From the study, the type of data to be collected and the
procedure to be used for this purpose were decided.

2. Data Collection

Data collection is a process of collecting information from all the relevant sources to find answers to
the research problem, test the hypothesis and evaluate the outcomes. Data collection methods can be
divided into two categories: secondary methods of data collection and primary methods of data
collection.

Primary Data:

Primary data are those data, which is originally collected afresh. In this project, Websites and Books
has been used for gathering required information.

Methods of Data Analysis The data collected were edited, classified and tabulated for analysis.

Secondary data:

The major source of data for this project was collected from annual reports, profit and loss account,
balance sheet, manuals & some more information collected through the internet. Therefore,

24
application of appropriate set of criteria to select secondary data to be used in the study plays an
important role in terms of increasing the levels of research validity and reliability.

Measurement Tools

This study is conducted with the help of statistics figures & techniques like Graphs & charts for
better comparison and interpretation.This project is an analytical research where in the researcher
has to use the available facts as information and analyze these to make a critical evaluation on
effects of information technology on inventory management in healthcare organizations of the
country. This is also an applied research with an aim to find a comparison on health care
organizations with the past few years.

3.2DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF STUDY

FINDINGS

The chapter presents and discusses the findings of the study. The findings serve to reinforce the

existing knowledge proven about the effects of effective inventory management on performance

of business outlets in. The chapter involves presentation, analysis and interpretation of the study

results. Data presented, analyzed and interpreted according to the research objectives. It is

presented in the form of tables basing on the responses got from the study respondents that were

selected during the process of data collection.

The discussion of findings has been arranged in accordance with demographic characteristics of

respondents’ and objectives of the study as were formulated in chapter one of this report. The

interpretation of the data intended to enable the researcher make appropriate conclusions and

recommendations for better understanding of the research problem

25
Distribution of the respondent by highest academic qualification
Highest academic Frequency percentage Cum. Percentage

qualification

Masters 2 7% 7%

Degree 7 23% 30%

Diploma 10 33% 63%

Certificate 11 37% 100%

Total 30 100%

The Table above shows the highest academic qualification where 37% of the respondents were

certificate holders, 33% were diploma holders and worrying 7% were master’s holders. This shows

that most of work in retail outlet is manual work which requires less academic qualifications.

The Table below further revealed that 67% of the respondents supported usage of IT 20% did not

support the usage where 13% were not sure who may be the cleaners.

support of usage of information technology

Support of the Frequency percentage Cum.percentage

usage of IT

Yes 20 67% 67%

No 6 20% 87%

Not sure 4 13% 100%

Total 30 100%

From the table below, 63% of the respondents supported the innovation of new technologies while

37% never supported the innovations that may be rigid to change.

26
support of innovation of new information technologies
Support Frequency percentage Cum.percentage

innovation of

new

technologies

Yes 19 63% 63%

No 11 37% 100%

Total 30 100

The researcher also sought to know whether the customers were satisfied with the inventory

management, 60% of the respondents said that they were satisfied and those who stated that they

were very satisfied and not satisfied had the same percentage. This shows that the services offered

by the outlets were recommendable as indicated in the table below

are the customers satisfied with inventory management?

Are customers Frequency percentage Cum.percentage
satisfied with
I Mgt?
Very satisfied 6 20% 20%
Satisfied 18 60% 80%
Not satisfied 6 20% 100%
Total 30 100%

27
The Table below shows the job positions of the workers, from the results a large number (70%) of

the respondents are general workers while a small number (7%) were doctor’s .It can be stated that

most of the staff are general workers.

indicate your job position

Job position Frequency percentage Cum.percentage
Doctors 2 7% 7%
sisters 3 10% 17%

General worker 21 70% 87%

Cleaner 4 13% 100%
Total 30 100%

The researcher sought to know the duration of service of the respondents and the results were as

shown in Table 4.3.9 where the percentages of the year of service were almost equal .this shows

that the business outlets maintained almost equal number of workers who had served for specific

years.

28
Tables 4.3.10 are the documentation systems effective and efficient?

Are the Frequency percentage Cum.percentage

documentation
systems effective
and efficient?
32 23 77% 77%
Yes 6 20% 97%
No 1 3% 100%
Not sure
Total 30 100%

From Table 4.3.10 77% of the respondents revealed that the documentation systems were effective

and efficient where only 3% were not sure. This led to effective inventory management.

advantages of improved inventory management

Statement Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Total
disagree agree

Improved Frequency 0 0 0 28 2 30
inventory
managemen
Percentage 0 0 0 93.3 6.7 100
t helps
%
identify
clients’
needs and
preferences
hence attract
customers

29
 Improved Frequency 0 0 0 3 27 30
inventory
managemen
t reduces Percentage 0 0 0 10 90 100
stock %
wastage
Improved Frequency 0 0 0 15 15 30
inventory
management
leads to easy Percentage 0 0 0 50 50 100

storage and %
retrieval of
materials

From the above table on whether improved inventory management helps identify clients’ needs

and preferences, a large number (93.3%) of respondents agreed that improved inventory

management helps identify clients’ needs and preferences by business outlets since the owners of

business are able to identify the fast moving goods hence making them available all-time leading

to high customer satisfaction. On the question on whether improved inventory management

reduces stock wastage90% of the respondents strongly agreed showing that business outlets are

able to track the movement of their goods hence avoiding overstocking which leads to wastage.an

equal number 50% of the respondents agreed and strongly agreed that Improved inventory

management leads to easy storage and retrieval of materials. This shows that most of business

people in use coding method for easy identification of their good leading to less time wastage while

serving their customers hence high customer satisfaction.

30
 Chapter-4

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

1 : WHO recommends the use of digital birth notification under these conditions: in settings where the
notifications provide individual-level data to the health system and/or a civil registration and vital statistics
(CRVS) system, and the health system and/or CRVS system has the capacity to respond to the notifications.
Responses by the health system including the capacity to accept the notifications and trigger appropriate health
and social services, such as initiating of postnatal services. Responses by the CRVS system include the
capacity to accept the notifications and to validate the information, in order to trigger the subsequent
process of birth registration and certification

2: WHO recommends the use of digital death notification under these conditions:
in the context of rigorous research, and in settings where the notifications provide individual-level data to the
health system and/or a CRVS system, and the health system and/or CRVS system has the capacity to respond
to the notifications. (Recommended only in the context of rigorous research and in specific contexts or
conditions) Responses by the health system include the capacity to accept the notifications and trigger
appropriate health and social services. Responses by the CRVS system include the capacity to accept the
notifications and to validate the information, in order to trigger the subsequent process of death
registration and certification.

3: WHO recommends the use of digital stock notification and commodity management in settings where supply
chain management systems have the capacity to respond in a timely and appropriate manner to the stock
notifications.

4: WHO recommends the use of client-to- provider telemedicine to complement, rather than replace, the
delivery of health services and in settings where patient safety, privacy, traceability, accountability and
security can be monitored.(Recommended only in specific contexts or conditions)In this context,
monitoring includes the establishment of standard operating procedures that describe protocols for
ensuring patient consent, data protection and storage, and verifying provider licensing and credentials.
5: WHO recommends the use of provider-to- provider telemedicine in settings where patient safety, privacy,
traceability, accountability and security can be monitored
6: WHO recommends digital targeted client communication for health issues regarding sexual,
reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health under the condition that potential concerns about
sensitive content and data privacy can be addressed
7: WHO recommends the use of digital decision support accessible via mobile devices for community and
facility-based health workers in the context of tasks that are already defined within the scope of practice
for the health worker.
8: WHO recommends digital tracking of clients’ health status and services, combined with decision support
under these conditions: in settings where the health system can support the implementation of these
intervention components in an integrated manner; and for tasks that are already defined as within the scope
31
of practice for the health worker.
9: WHO recommends the use of digital tracking combined with decision support and targeted client
communication under these conditions: where the health system can support the implementation of these
intervention components in an integrated manner; for tasks that are already defined as within the scope
of practice for the health worker; and where potential concerns about data privacy and transmitting
sensitive content to clients can be addressed.
10: WHO recommends the digital provision of educational and training content to complement, rather than
replace, traditional methods of delivering continued health education and post-certification training.

The recommendations in this guideline represent a subset of prioritized digital health interventions accessible
at a minimum via mobile devices, and this guideline will gradually include a broader set of emerging digital
health interventions over subsequent versions. This includes recommendations on the following digital health
interventions, accessible at a minimum via mobile devices
Ⱥ birth notification
Ⱥ death notification
Ⱥ stock notification and commodity management
Ⱥ client1 -to-provider telemedicine
Ⱥ provider-to-provider telemedicine
Ⱥ targeted client communication
Ⱥ tracking of patients’/clients’ health status and services
Ⱥ health worker decision support
Ⱥ provision of training and educational content to health workers Target audience
primary target audiences for this guideline are decision-makers in ministries of health, public health
practitioners and other stakeholders who will benefit from an understanding of which digital health
interventions have an evidence base to address health system needs. This guideline may also prove beneficial
to organizations that invest resources into digital health as implementation and development partners. This
document aims to strengthen evidence-based decision-making on digital approaches by governments and
partner institutions, encouraging the mainstreaming and institutionalization of effective digital interventions.
Although WHO’s Classification of digital health interventions v1.0 uses the term “client”, the terms
“individual” and “patient” may be used interchangeably, where appropriate. The systematic reviews included
accessibility via mobile devices to ensure that these digital interventions are applicable in low resource
settings where extensive computerized systems may not be available or feasible. However, the recommended
interventions can be deployed through any digital device, including stationary devices, such as desktop
computers, and does not preclude them from being used on non-mobile digital devices.

32
Bibliography
1. Patient Safety Dictionary [Internet] Natoinal Patient Safety Foundation. [[Update 2017;
Accessed 2017 September]]. Available from: http://www.npsf.org/?page=dictionarynz .
2. Kohn LT, Corrigan JM, Donaldson MS. To Err Is Human [Internet] [[cited 2000]]. Available
from: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9728 .
3. Crossing the Quality Chasm [Internet] [[cited 2001]]. Available
from: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10027 .
4. Brailer D. The decade of health information technology, Framework for Strategic Action
[Internet] [[cited 2004]]. Available
from: http://www.providersedge.com/ehdocs/ehr_articles/the_decade_of_hit-delivering_customer-
centric_and_info-rich_hc.pdf .
5. Computerized Provider Order Entry [Internet] Agency for Healthcare Quality &
Research. [[cited 2017]]. Available from: https://psnet.ahrq.gov/primers/primer/6/
6. Nuckols TK, Smith-Spangler C, Morton SC, Asch SM, Patel VM, Anderson LJ, et al. The
effectiveness of computerized order entry at reducing preventable adverse drug events and
medication errors in hospital settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Syst
Rev. 2014;3:56. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
7. Devine EB, Hansen RN, Wilson-Norton JL, Lawless NM, Fisk AW, Blough DK, et al. The
impact of computerized provider order entry on medication errors in a multi specialty group
practice. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2010;17:78–84. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
8. Kaushal R, Kern LM, Barron Y, Quaresimo J, Abramson EL. Electronic prescribing improves
medication safety in community-based office practices. J Gen Intern Med United
States. 2010;25:530–536. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
9. Strom BL, Schinnar R, Aberra F, Bilker W, Hennessy S, Leonard CE, et al. Unintended effects
of a computerized physician order entry nearly hard-stop alert to prevent a drug interaction: a
randomized controlled trial. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170:1578–1583. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
10. Dainty KN, Adhikari NKJ, Kiss A, Quan S, Zwarenstein M. Electronic prescribing in an
ambulatory care setting: a cluster randomized trial. J Eval Clin Pract. 2012;18:761–
767. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
11. Clinical Decision Support (CDS) [Internet] Office of the National Coordinator for Health
Information Technology. Available from: https://www.healthit.gov/policy-researchers-
implementers/clinical-decision-support-cds .
12. Shojania KG, Jennings A, Mayhew A, Ramsay CR, Eccles MP, Grimshaw J. The effects of on-
screen, point of care computer reminders on processes and outcomes of care. Cochrane Database
Syst Rev. 2009;3:CD001096. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

33
13. Shah NR, Seger AC, Seger DL, Fiskio JM, Kuperman GJ, Blumenfeld B, et al. Improving
acceptance of computerized prescribing alerts in ambulatory care. J Am Med Inform
Assoc. 2006;13:5–11. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
14. Paterno MD, Maviglia SM, Gorman PN, Seger DL, Yoshida E, Seger AC, et al. Tiering drug-
drug interaction alerts by severity increases compliance rates. J Am Med Inform
Assoc. 2009;16:40–46. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

34
 APPENDICES APPENDIX I: STRUCTURED

QUESTIONNAIRE

Instructions: Please respond to the following questions and where applicable, mark the relevant

box with a tick (√).

Confidentiality: The responses you provide will be strictly confidential. No reference will be

made to any individual(s) in the report of the study.

PART A: DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

1. What is your gender?

 Male

 Female

2.In which of the following age brackets do you belong?

 Below 25 years

 26-30 years

 31-35 years

 Over 35 years

3.Indicate your highest academic qualification

 Masters

 Degree

 Diploma

 Certificate

35
 PART B

INFORMATION RELATED TO RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

4. Do you support the usage of IT?

 Yes
 No

1. Indicate whether you support the innovation of new information

technology in business outlets?

 Yes

 No

2. Arethe customers satisfied with inventory management in healthcare

organizations?
 Very satisfied

 Satisfied

 Not satisfied

3. Indicate your position in hospitals?

 Doctors

 Nurses

 General worker

 Cleaner

4.How long have you served in that position?

 Below 5 years

 5-10 years

36
  10-15 years

 Over 15 years

5.Are the documentation systems effective and efficient?

 Yes

 No

 Not sure

6. Improved inventory management helps identify clients’ needs and

preferences hence attract customers.

 Strongly disagree

 Disagree

 Neutral

 Agree

 Strongly agree

7. Improved inventory management reduces stock wastage

 Strongly disagree

 Disagree

 Neutral

 Agree

 Strongly agree

37
8. Improved inventory management leads to easy storage and
retrieval of materials in healthcare organizations.
 Strongly disagree

 Disagree

 Neutral

 Agree

 Strongly agree

38
39
40