Question 1

Which examples are natural disasters that could affect IT systems?

Accepted Answer

Floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes are natural disasters. Bombs and terrorist attacks are man-made disasters.

Question 2

Which is an example of healthcare IT physical infrastructure?

Accepted Answer

PACS, data warehouses, and anesthesia systems are all IT infrastructure; only biomedical devices are part of an IT system's physical infrastructure.

Question 3

Which system is an example of a core clinical application?

Accepted Answer

The electronic health record is a core clinical application because it is used for every patient in every care situation. The scheduling system and claim scrubbers are revenue cycle applications. The physiologic monitoring system is an ancillary or specialty area system.

Question 4

Which system is an example of an ancillary service application?

Accepted Answer

The radiology information system is an ancillary service application used for ancillary clinical patient care. PBX switchboard, e-mail, and keyless entry systems are business applications supporting the business operation but are not used for patient care.

Question 5

If the planned single system downtime is less than 1 hour in the middle of a Sunday night, which downtime level should be assigned?

Accepted Answer

A single system planned downtime at the least busy clinical time creates the lowest level of downtime risk, or level 1. Levels 2, 3, and 4 are all higher risk in this scenario.

Question 6

If an unplanned total network outage occurs with all systems affected during the week at 1300 hours and there is no estimated time to recovery announced, which downtime level should be assigned?

Accepted Answer

Unplanned outage of all systems and the network at the busiest time for the business and patient care is the highest risk outage for an organization, or level 4. Levels 1, 2, and 3 are all lower risk than level 4 in this scenario.

Question 7

Which redundant EHR application is critical to avoid disrupting nurses' care of patients during downtime?

Accepted Answer

CPOE and the MAR are crucial to nurses' care of patients. The billing system, registration system, and SAN support other operational functions.

Question 8

What is the primary reason to back up data entered into electronic health records?

Accepted Answer

The key reason is that if a system fails and data is lost or data integrity is in question, available backups allow the system to be recovered with accurate and complete data. The work of physicians, billing, and the interface engine all depend on a complete and accurate recovered system but are single functions rather than the overarching, key reason to do complete backups.

Question 9

Which examples of essential information technology physical hardware infrastructure could cause a downtime if they fail? (Select all that apply.)

Accepted Answer

Network cables and switches, as well as computer servers, are actual hardware components of infrastructure. They are physical pieces of IT equipment. Financial applications and the interface engine are software.

Question 10

What are the integral components of a downtime communication plan? (Select all that apply.)

Accepted Answer

Who needs to know which details, which systems and workflows are impacted, and who is going to communicate the information are critical components of a downtime communication plan. Which personnel have passed the annual charting exam would be communicated at a unit-based level to the employees and the unit management.

Quiz 20: Health Information Systems: Downtime and Disaster Recovery