A04 Use Of ICT

A04 – Use of ICT

1. In the Health Service, computers are used all the time for many different reasons.

When a patient is brought into the hospital, often doctors rely on computerised systems to diagnose the patient. This often involves attaching sensors to the patient’s body, which measure things like the heartbeat, and this can help doctors identify problems. All scans taken of patients, like CAT (computerised axial tomography) scans, are done by the computer taking lots of pictures, then manipulating them to create a 3-dimensional picture of the affected area.

When a patient is known to be ill, they have to be monitored to ensure that they do not become more ill by something trivial. The sensors monitor blood pressure, pulse rates, heart waveform, breathing and brain signals 24-hours a day. This could not be done by a human, it would be difficult to keep track of everything; a computer is only option. The computer would also be programmed to ring a bell when something becomes too high or too low, e.g. if the heartbeat of a patient fell too low, an alarm would sound to alert the nurse.

Because hospitals have many new patients everyday, good computerised records need to be kept so that any hospital worker who needs to know information about a patient can access it in an emergency. Using a computerised system rather than a paper-based one means that the records use us barely any space and new records can be entered quickly and efficiently.

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2. I would expect a commercially-produced product to be more technically complicated and have more attracting images published. This would be because it would have been developed by a software expert, so more settings would be made available than on a basic program like Microsoft PowerPoint. The Health Centre needs to attract as many people as possible, so if the information kiosk had more interactive features, which were specific to the needs of the general public, then the presentation would be more effective.

3. Jobs are very different now that ICT plays a major part in everyday tasks in the workplace. Nowadays, barely any written records are kept; many are done on the computer. This is because it much quicker to type, than writing by hand, and storage is a lot easier on a computer than in a filing cabinet. This means that the receptionist will have a lot more time to spend customer service, rather than tedious administrative tasks. It also means that most employees are computer-literate, which means more technological developments can be made in the future to again improve efficiency.

Some people are not very familiar with computers and computer systems, so they may require extra training to compensate for that. This may mean that employees have to go on short training courses to learn the basic computer skills (off-the-job training). Alternatively, they could just be taught quickly how to use the computers, maybe a specific programme like Microsoft Access for holding patient’s records, by an existing member of staff (on-the-job training). When a new piece of software is introduced into the Health Centre, for example the new information kiosk, all staff members will need to be taught how to use it. This would probably mean a meeting, bringing in an external teacher, to let everyone get used to the programme. If someone does not know how to use the new software, then that would cause problems if they needed to edit or update something. Generally, this may cause a change in the Job Descriptions of jobs in the Health Centre. Rather than having an administrative post that does most of the work on paper, someone with good computer skills will be needed and this may change their job tasks dramatically.

4. The use of ICT has enabled many people to work from home, which has a lot of benefits. The increased ownership of computers and Internet access at home has meant that more people are physically able to do work at home. Sometimes workers need to be in immediate contact with their employers, especially when situated a home, so e-mail and video conferencing using a Broadband connection can be extremely helpful. This could mean that a worker 200 miles away could be actively involved in a meeting at the Headquarters of the organisation.

There are many differences between going to work and working from home:

Employees = Working from home means that the worker does not have the stress of having to get up early in the morning to travel to the city to go to work, which normally improves the quality of the work produced. This also means that they can use a very relaxed flexi-hours system, which means they can do work while still doing everyday tasks normally. But the worker can sometimes feel very isolated while working at home, whereas in a typical office there is a lot more socialising opportunities.

Employers = By allowing an employee to work mainly from home, the employer can save up to £6000 because they can rent a smaller office space. This is a major advantage for employers, but this may mean that good relationships are not built up between colleagues, which will make it harder to brain storm ideas and have meetings. Generally there will be a greater loyalty from the employees because of the amount of trust being given to them, but this could mean that they go off on a tangent and stop following directions. Because some experienced potential staff members may not be based locally or willing to travel, employers have to compromise. The working-from-home arrangement means that these people can still be employed, removing the need of high salaries or expensive relocation costs.