Hangups and Solutions in Applying Big Data in Healthcare

Its not just high-tech businesses that have latched onto the idea of using big data analytics to improve their operations. The healthcare industry has seen the potential that big data has to offer, leading to a movement to digitize health data to improve patient care and the efficiency of administrative tasks.

Big data might just transform healthcare all around the world, but such revolutionary concepts arent always implemented smoothly. Problems have cropped up as hospitals and health institutions have tried to integrate big data analytics into their work. Its certainly a worthy cause, with the list of possible benefits being and extensive one.

Hangups in this process, however, are all too common. If the healthcare industry wishes to succeed in this effort, theyll have to be aware of what these hangups are and how best to overcome them.

One of the biggest obstacles healthcare institutions will likely confront isnt all that unique. Other industries have encountered problems with data silos, and hospitals and clinics are certainly no exception. Many people dont realize how expansive and diverse the healthcare industry is.

While the majority of people experience healthcare solely by their interactions with their doctor, hospitals also include many departments like labs, radiology, and emergency areas. Thats not including the large administrative operations. All of these departments stand to benefit from big data, but too often they rely only on the data they collect themselves. In other words, due to organizational data silos, this information rarely leaves its point of origin, even if data from one department would greatly benefit another. There are ways to extracting data from these repositories, but its usually a complicated and labor-intensive process.

The use of big data within healthcare also tends to affect how doctors perform their jobs. While most supporters of big data analytics say big data will lead to improvements in how doctors care for their patients, there is still a big data gap doctors need to overcome. This gap refers to doctors having access to the data that can make a difference but not knowing how to actually use this. That might be from lack of training, or it could be from a general lack of understanding of what big data is and what it could be used for. Whatever the reason, doctors being unable to use big data is something that cant be ignored.

The healthcare industry also has to contend with what is often referred to as an episodic culture. The term refers to a culture that is largely resistant to change or at the least implements changes very slowly. Big data analytics flies in the face of that mindset rather blatantly, effectively upending the rigid culture that has come to define many aspects of healthcare. Needless to say, this could create conflict and unnecessary pushback. Its a barrier that many institutions will struggle with in their attempts to avoid stagnation.

While these hangups and potential pitfalls could be seen as formidable, there are ways to overcome them. In the case of data silos, organizational restructuring can help breaks down the walls that separate departments, encouraging more sharing of digitized health information and other data sets that can improve operations and patient care. To bridge the big data gap, some experts have recommended finding and training health traffic controllers — people with expertise in handling big data that can analyze it. They would be able to direct doctors in what courses of action to take, such as the timing of certain treatments and what kind of treatments would be best.

Overcoming episodic culture takes another strategy: forward thinking IT leadership. Good IT leaders can explain how big data should be used for healthcare organizations and work with doctors and other health professionals to implement changes where immediate benefits can be seen. Confident IT leaders can help solve the problems of the other two issues as well.

Its reasonable to assume that any industry the moves to integrate big data will run into some problems along the way. As the technology has advanced, and storage technology like flash storage has grown in use, more people have seen the good it can do. Healthcare organizations have the capability to transform how they treat their patients with big data; all it will take is understanding the hangups and knowing the right way to implement the correct solutions.