Benefits of Health Informatics for Physical Therapists
Learning health informatics provides physical therapists with essential skills to improve patient care quality, enhance communication, and optimize clinical outcomes through better data management and technology integration.
Key Benefits of Health Informatics for Physical Therapists
1. Improved Patient Care and Outcomes
- Health informatics enables physical therapists to become stewards of mobility data across healthcare enterprises 1
- Integration of computerized systems facilitates better patient-clinician communication, which is associated with increased patient satisfaction, trust, adherence to prescribed therapy, and improved health outcomes 2
- Electronic Health Records (EHRs) can support patient-clinician interactions rather than interfering with them when properly implemented 2
2. Enhanced Clinical Decision Making
- Access to standardized data from EHRs improves clinical performance throughout healthcare facilities 1
- Health IT can facilitate earlier detection of health issues, improve tracking of chronic disease management, and provide access to de-identified data for research 2
- Proper implementation of health informatics allows for data aggregation and analysis at both patient and population levels needed for effective clinical management 2
3. Operational and Financial Benefits
- Health informatics adoption has demonstrated decreased revenue loss and more actionable, meaningful data use 1
- EHRs reduce medical errors, eliminate duplicate treatments and tests, decrease paperwork, and lower healthcare costs 2
- Proper EHR implementation improves operational efficiency and interdepartmental communication 3
4. Professional Development and Research Opportunities
- Physical therapists with informatics training can participate in enterprise-level EHR optimization 1
- Health informatics skills enable PTs to articulate EHR workflow and data needs specific to physical therapy practice 1
- Standardized data collection creates opportunities for future research and evidence-based practice development 3
Implementation Strategies for Success
Critical Success Factors
- End-user participation in system development, especially involving clinicians 3
- Adequate training and resource allocation for health informatics adoption 3
- Workflow analysis integration into system design and implementation 3
- Commitment to data standardization 3
- Careful planning and testing to ensure adequate software and hardware performance 3
Overcoming Common Barriers
- Address challenges with behavior modification through proper training and education 3
- Ensure adequate equipment and technology infrastructure 3
- Implement spatial reorganization of exam rooms to maintain patient-centered care while using technology 2
- Maintain nonverbal communication and employ specific techniques that integrate computerized systems into patient visits 2
Future Directions
- Development of physical therapy-specific informatics competencies across all levels of education 4
- Integration of health informatics content throughout physical therapy curriculum 4
- Expansion of the physical therapist-informatician (PT-I) role to bridge clinical practice and technology 1
- Participation in the development of data standards specific to physical therapy practice 3
Health informatics represents a critical skill set for modern physical therapy practice. By embracing these technologies and developing informatics competencies, physical therapists can improve patient outcomes, enhance clinical efficiency, and contribute to the advancement of evidence-based practice in rehabilitation.