Ethics, privacy, and confidentiality issues related to the application of information technology in health care

Information technology and the use of computers have created many changes in the environments in which they are used. Information technology and the use of computers have probably impacted health care institutions as much as they have impacted society. The primary purpose of this study was to ascertain the nature of ethical issues surrounding privacy and confidentiality as health care settings implement increasing amounts of information technology. The questions guiding the study included: (1) What are the emerging ethical issues that arise when deploying greatly increased amounts of information technology? (2) Are the emerging issues fundamentally the same or different than currently existing ethical issues?; A set of procedures was developed to: (a) identify identify the ethical issues, (b) determine whether the issues are the same or different than in the past, and (c) determine how these differences will affect health care.; The researcher concluded: (1) The core issues of privacy and confidentiality have not changed. (2) The EMR will have a positive impact on Healthcare. (3) Access can be controlled by passwords. (4) How information is handled has changed. Implications and Recommendations for the research include. Information technology can be used for faster turn-around of patient information which would result in better patient care, shorter patient stays, and better information as to how and when decisions are made for the care of the patient. The two areas of allowing the patient to have complete access to his/her record and how information flows and when critical decisions are made will have the greatest impact on health care.