Česky
Why did you decide to pursue a career in information technology?
The obligatory question that most computer scientists will answer similarly. I have been fascinated by computers since I was young and marveled at the new space that is limited only by human imagination. In the world of computers, nothing is impossible. Years later, of course, I know it's not that simple. For young people, the field of information technology is a great challenge, and for me it was no different.
Have you always wanted to work with computers?
I grew up at a time when computers, laptops and phones didn't surround us as much as they do today. I didn't realise then that I could do it for a living. I remember in elementary school I saw myself as a teacher or a lawyer.
How long have you been working at the hospital?
I joined the hospital in 2010. At that time I did not know that the whole hospital was going to undergo a major reconstruction and a great expansion of information technology. In a person's life, 8 years is quite a short time, but in terms of information technology, given the speed of development, it is figuratively a couple of generations. Look at the hospital, it's being renovated in an honest and modern way. The same is true of information technology.
How many people - IT staff do you have in your team?
The IT department started with two IT people in each hospital. As the hospital has developed, the number of IT specialists has increased to about ten in Hořovice, Beroun and Pardubice. There is a shortage of IT specialists on the labour market, so I would like to address potential candidates in this way as well. We also have a small IT development department, where several developers should come.
What does IT work in a hospital entail?
In short, it involves supporting users, ensuring the operation of all information systems, working with medical technology suppliers and, as is customary in our hospitals, constantly developing and populating new areas with our technology. Recently, we have also had to focus more on security and data protection.
What kind of programs do physicians use?
The medical staff uses one main hospital information system. And the associated programs and hardware related to the specialty. We try to keep the number of systems as small as possible and our goal is to make them as simple as possible. That's very complex, given what they have to accommodate. This is where our IT development department helps a lot, replacing the complex parts of the programs with simpler programs of their own. Users therefore have the comfort of using only what they really need. To free up the hands of the medical staff for their core business, this will be an area we want to address in the future.
What is the protection of patient data? Respectively, do we have a special program/setting in the hospital?
We protect patient data with a combination of all available technologies, setting up work processes so that leakage cannot occur. The issue of data protection has to be addressed by each IT department. I would be naive if I said that information leakage cannot happen, but we do not underestimate security and we have done our best for it. Often human factors play a role in data leaks, which unfortunately we cannot control.
How is the IT work in the hospital going? In your opinion, is there a risk that computers could replace medical care, for example in diagnosing a patient's illness?
On behalf of our organisation, I can say that there is more and more work. Information technology is gradually penetrating completely into all areas of healthcare, and the number and volume of IT technologies is constantly increasing. On the second question, I would change the word 'threatens'. We are not threatened by information technology. It is only a tool and it is up to us how we use it. Expert systems have had the ability to receive information for a long time now, and in the health sector their output can be a diagnosis, for example. Computers should not replace humans in this respect for a long time to come. However, they can already expand his horizons very significantly. As a working tool, they can provide important information that a human could simply overlook. In time, such cooperation will become common practice and future generations will find such use of computers natural. Think of desktops, tablets and phones.
