Big Data Risks and Rewards

Big Data Risks and Rewards

One of the potential benefits of using big data as part of a clinical system is reducing healthcare costs. Healthcare providers can use electronic health records to identify a patient’s health patterns, hence cutting the costs associated with unnecessary hospital visits and hospitalization. Big data also reduces healthcare costs by providing more significant insights into a patient’s healthcare condition by applying predictive analytics to predict healthcare conditions, thus reducing hospital stays (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). Predictive analytics can also estimate individual patient costs and maximize healthcare efficiency by enabling healthcare providers to plan treatment carefully.

One potential risk of using big data as part of a clinical system is the loss of privacy due to sharing medical records. Big data mainly accesses a patient’s private records to get a detailed look at a patient and understand their medical history, hence creating privacy issues. Healthcare providers may also be required to share a patient’s healthcare information with one another to improve medical intervention, thus further creating a lack of privacy (Pastorino et al.,2019). For instance, a healthcare provider may not have the knowledge and skills to treat a particular disease, thus sharing a patient’s medical information with a more qualified healthcare provider with the required knowledge and skills to treat the illness so that they can be guided on how to treat the patient.

The benefits of using big data analytics in the clinical system outweigh the disadvantages. Hence, the need to eliminate the risk of lack of privacy is the only major challenge affecting the adoption of big data in most healthcare facilities. One strategy that can effectively mitigate this risk is gaining patient consent before accessing and using a patient’s personal information. This can be achieved by signing a consent form that allows healthcare providers to access personal and medical information and share it with other healthcare providers for improved medical care.

References

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Pastorino, R., De Vito, C., Migliara, G., Glocker, K., Binenbaum, I., Ricciardi, W., & Boccia, S. (2019). Benefits and challenges of big data in healthcare: An overview of the European initiatives. European Journal of Public Health, 29(Supplement_3), 23-27. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckz168

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When you wake in the morning, you may reach for your cell phone to reply to a few text or email messages that you missed overnight. On your drive to work, you may stop to refuel your car. Upon your arrival, you might swipe a key card at the door to gain entrance to the facility. And before finally reaching your workstation, you may stop by the cafeteria to purchase a coffee.

Big Data Risks and Rewards

From the moment you wake, you are, in fact, a data-generation machine. Each use of your phone, every transaction you make using a debit or credit card, and even your entrance to your place of work creates data. It begs the question: How much data do you generate each day? Many studies have been conducted on this, and the numbers are staggering: Estimates suggest that nearly 1 million bytes of data are generated every second for every person on Earth.

As the volume of data increases, information professionals have looked for ways to use big data—large, complex sets of data that require specialized approaches to use effectively. Big data has the potential for significant rewards—and significant risks—to healthcare. In this Discussion, you will consider these risks and rewards.

To Prepare:

Review the Resources and reflect on the web article Big Data Means Big Potential, Challenges for Nurse Execs.
Reflect on your own experience with complex health information access and management and consider potential challenges and risks you may have experienced or observed.
By Day 3 of Week 5
Post a description of at least one potential benefit of using big data as part of a clinical system and explain why. Then, describe at least one potential challenge or risk of using big data as part of a clinical system and explain why. Propose at least one strategy you have experienced, observed, or researched that may effectively mitigate the challenges or risks of using the big data you described. Be specific and provide examples.