NURS 6051 Discussion: Big Data Risks and Rewards Risks and Rewards of Big Data

NURS 6051 Discussion: Big Data Risks and Rewards

Risks and Rewards of Big Data

Healthcare researchers have high hopes for the potential of big data to advance treatment innovation, drug discovery, customized medicine, and optimal patient care with the goal of lowering healthcare costs and improving patient outcomes. For their big data programs, governments and businesses have spent billions of dollars on data collection (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). Internal sources, such as electronic health records, and external sources, such as pharmacies, laboratories, and government agencies, are both potential origins of healthcare-related big data.

Big Data Benefits

The potential advantages of merging, digitizing, and making good use of big data are shared between organizations. By analyzing massive amounts of data, big data might help us discover previously unseen correlations, hidden patterns, and insights. Electronic health records (EHRs) are one example of a big data source that aids in the collection of demographic and medical data such clinical data, lab tests, diagnoses, and medical problems that are used by healthcare professionals to offer high-quality care (Pastorino et al., 2019). Big data aids healthcare institutions in increasing operational efficiency. Big data is used as part of a healthcare organization’s business intelligence strategy to look at things like patient admission rates and employee productivity. Hence, healthcare systems can save money with predictive analytics while also improving the quality of treatment they offer. To effectively use big data analytics outcomes, managers and employees need critical thinking and interpretation skills. Because misinterpreting reports might lead to major mistakes and questionable decisions. So, healthcare businesses must teach employees in fundamental statistics, data mining, and business intelligence to support the emerging information-rich work environment (Wang et al., 2018)

Challenges Associated with Big Data

Data security is a major issue with big data, especially with the rise in high-profile hacks, breaches, and ransomware attacks. Healthcare data is at risk from endless sources, including phishing assaults, viruses, and computers left in taxis. Patients’ privacy and the confidentiality of their health information are safeguarded by state and federal legislation, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) (Pastorino et al., 2019).

Strategies to Manage the Challenges of Big Data

Among the many technical protections mandated for businesses that manage PHI is encryption during transmission, authentication procedures, and management of access, integrity, and auditing. Use of up-to-date anti-virus software, a firewall, encryption of sensitive data, and multiple-factor authentication are all examples of practical measures that translate to these precautions. The greatest concern is that there will be a security breach. There may have been as many as 25 million medical records compromised in the first half of 2019 (Davis, 2019). The proposed approach is to restrict patients’ access to the organization’s interdisciplinary team. The health records of an individual are confidential and should not be released to any outside parties. Personal information misuse can have serious repercussions. So selecting a big data computing firm that is both competent and efficient as protecting sensitive data is crucial for a successful resolution of this issue. Another method would be to insist that employees always log out of their accounts when they leave a computer terminal, change their passwords frequently, and never click on links in emails that they suspect might be malicious. At my organization, we get frequent tests of phishing emails to see if employees can recognize and report these. As an added precaution against hackers gaining access to sensitive information, healthcare providers should provide thorough training on the importance of data security standards and conduct regular reviews of employee access to sensitive data (Raghupathi & Raghupathi, 2014). Data breaches can result in costly lawsuits if these precautions are not taken.

References

Davis, J. (2019, August 2). The 10 biggest healthcare data breaches of 2019, so far. HealthITSecurity. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://healthitsecurity.com/news/the-10-biggest-healthcare-data-breaches-of-2019-so-far McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2022). Nursing Informatics and the foundation of knowledge. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

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