Question

can you identify any areas of structured or unstructured data in your organization that need to be rectified, and if so, what are they and how might you go about making this change in your organization?

Answer 1

All the information pertaining to patients admitted to a hospital is classified as health care data. It includes basic contact information, assessment findings, management modalities to discharge and follow up data.Data that can be stored in an organised manner is called structured data. Examples of structured data stored in an organisation are anthropometric measurements, lab investigation reports and stages of disease. The values of these structured data can be compared easily with the standardized measurements for validation.

Unstructured data are those data that lacks proper organisation. Few such un-organized data in hospital includes physicians order in written forms,X ray sheets, CT and MRI films. The unstructured data needs to be be closely assessed and manually interpreted and is often a difficult task. It can be filed and stored with proper labels for easy retrieval.Use of artificial intelligence and machines can reduce such difficulties. For example use of a language processing tool can decode the handwritten physicians notes rapidly than manual interpretation. Introduction of machine learning decision support tool can aid in classifying the symptoms listed by a physician under a diagnostic category.Thus these technologies can improve the categorization and interpretation of health related data.