Describe the uses of computer information systems in health care.

Computerized information systems are used in some hospitals and other health care facilities to help manage and organize relevant patient, financial, pharmacy, laboratory, and radiological information. To receive the full benefits of computer technology, each of these separate information systems needs to be linked under the hospital information system (HIS). Very few hospitals have reached this point of computerization. Issues to be dealt with range from the high cost of introducing and maintaining computerized systems, to the resistance of staff to systems for which they are not adequately trained, to the imposition of systems designed without worker participation and knowledge of the work process.