I shall discuss the role of communication in information systems and problems that may arise from the ineffective usage of bad communications. During my gap year I worked for Mayday hospital in West Croydon.

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DISCUSS THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION IN ENABLING ORGANISATIONS TO MAKE EFFECTIVE USE OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS.

Effective communication is essential for organisations to be successful.  It is the

process by which information is exchanged between one group or person and another,

by thoughts, messages, speech, signals, writing, or behaviour.

In this essay I shall discuss the role of communication in information systems and

problems that may arise from the ineffective usage of bad communications.

During my gap year I worked for Mayday hospital in West Croydon.  I worked as an office administrator and helped deal with medical records, ensuring records would get to the right place on time.  During this period I had found that the NHS were currently in the process of implementing a number of new information systems in all its hospitals, naming it the ‘National Program for Information Technology’.  The reasons for this programme were to improve the flow of information in the Health Service, as there had been many complaints with the current system, being insufficient and ineffective.  Thus causing delays with workers having to work extra hours.  The programme will also be beneficial to patients, allowing them access, to certain information.

One part of the scheme is concerned with creating a national computer network (similar to a WAN).  A wide area network allows the connection between computers over a large geographical area, even over several countries.  This will allow the communication and data to be exchanged linking hospitals, departments within hospitals, GP’S and chemists together.  The reason for this being done will now help improve the sharing of patients’ medical records.  At Mayday hospital I found, many mistakes had occurred due to medical records being mixed up and there wasn’t an appropriate system to help store a patient’s history.  It is extremely vital for the new system being introduced to overcome many barriers that the NHS are now facing.  Patients will be able to view their records via the Internet.  This is a perfect way to help ensure records are being verified and that the data in it is correct.

This is an example of good communication between the users.  In an emergency where the patients record is unknown, doctors can quickly get information about any drug allergies or previous treatments immediately.

However the improvement of communication can put more strain on the security.  For example, this can make it easier for hackers to gain entry, steal and corrupt data or to carry out fraudulent tasks.  When information is made more accessible to the public, this also makes it more possible for unauthorised users to view this information.  With the current paper based system, this can mean that a patient usually has to wait for weeks to receive an appointment.  A feature part of the NPFIT known as the Electronic Booking Service will help assist GPs in making hospital or clinical outpatient decisions, this new system will now eliminate the problem by allowing the patient to book an appointment on the spot, this is known as a ‘pseudo real-time’, where the data is processed immediately.

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The NHS has also introduced an email system for clinical communications called Contact (similar to an electronic bulletin board), but instead the Contact provides a national directory of people in the NHS, which includes their details and address of the NHS department they are working for.  This allows any member of staff working for the NHS to contact each other immediately, again preventing any delays.  Instant communication between staff would help them to use other aspects of the information system more efficiently.  If a GP needs to hear the recommendations of a specialist before referring a patient, email could ...

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