The enhancement of security in healthcare information systems

J Med Syst. 2012 Jun;36(3):1673-88. doi: 10.1007/s10916-010-9628-3. Epub 2010 Nov 23.

Abstract

With the progress and the development of information technology, the internal data in medical organizations have become computerized and are further established the medical information system. Moreover, the use of the Internet enhances the information communication as well as affects the development of the medical information system that a lot of medical information is transmitted with the Internet. Since there is a network within another network, when all networks are connected together, they will form the "Internet". For this reason, the Internet is considered as a high-risk and public environment which is easily destroyed and invaded so that a relevant protection is acquired. Besides, the data in the medical network system are confidential that it is necessary to protect the personal privacy, such as electronic patient records, medical confidential information, and authorization-controlled data in the hospital. As a consequence, a medical network system is considered as a network requiring high security that excellent protections and managerial strategies are inevitable to prevent illegal events and external attacks from happening. This study proposes secure medical managerial strategies being applied to the network environment of the medical organization information system so as to avoid the external or internal information security events, allow the medical system to work smoothly and safely that not only benefits the patients, but also allows the doctors to use it more conveniently, and further promote the overall medical quality. The objectives could be achieved by preventing from illegal invasion or medical information being stolen, protecting the completeness and security of medical information, avoiding the managerial mistakes of the internal information system in medical organizations, and providing the highly-reliable medical information system.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Computer Communication Networks / organization & administration*
  • Computer Security / standards*
  • Electronic Health Records
  • Humans
  • Medical Informatics*
  • Taiwan