AHIC Information Systems 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A clinical informaticist notices that a medication order entry system frequently times out during peak hours. What is the FIRST step in troubleshooting this performance issue?
- Replace all server hardware immediately
- Analyze system logs and monitor resource utilization (Correct answer)
- Disable the medication order module
- Increase the number of end users
Correct answer: Analyze system logs and monitor resource utilization
Analyzing logs and monitoring CPU, memory, and network utilization provides objective data to identify the root cause before making changes.
Question 2: Which concept describes the practice of building redundant components in a health information system to prevent single points of failure?
- Data normalization
- Fault tolerance (Correct answer)
- Data mining
- Load balancing
Correct answer: Fault tolerance
Fault tolerance involves redundant components so that if one fails, the system continues operating without disruption.
Question 3: In the context of EHR data architecture, what is 'data normalization' designed to minimize?
- Network latency
- Data redundancy and update anomalies (Correct answer)
- User authentication errors
- System downtime
Correct answer: Data redundancy and update anomalies
Normalization organizes relational database tables to reduce redundancy and dependency, preventing inconsistencies during updates.
Question 4: What does a 'disaster recovery plan' in a healthcare information system context primarily address?
- Managing staff schedules during emergencies
- Restoring IT systems and data after a disruptive event (Correct answer)
- Training clinicians on emergency protocols
- Redesigning the EHR user interface post-incident
Correct answer: Restoring IT systems and data after a disruptive event
A disaster recovery plan outlines procedures to restore IT infrastructure and data access after events like system failures or cyberattacks.
Question 5: Which data exchange approach uses a push model where the source system automatically sends updates to subscribing systems without being requested?
- Polling
- Publish-subscribe (pub/sub) (Correct answer)
- Request-response
- Batch file transfer
Correct answer: Publish-subscribe (pub/sub)
Publish-subscribe architecture allows source systems to push data to subscribers automatically when events occur, enabling real-time integration.
Question 6: A hospital's legacy system uses a proprietary data format. To integrate it with a new EHR, a middleware component is used to translate data formats. What is this component called?
- Firewall
- Interface engine (Correct answer)
- Load balancer
- Content delivery network
Correct answer: Interface engine
An interface engine (or integration engine) translates and routes messages between systems using different formats and protocols.
Question 7: In health informatics, what is the primary advantage of a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) over a monolithic system design?
- Lower initial development cost
- Modular services that can be updated independently without affecting the whole system (Correct answer)
- Simpler user authentication
- Reduced need for clinical workflow analysis
Correct answer: Modular services that can be updated independently without affecting the whole system
SOA breaks applications into discrete services that communicate via APIs, allowing independent deployment and scaling of individual components.
AHIC Information Systems 3
A clinical informaticist notices that a medication order entry system frequently times out during peak hours.
What is the FIRST step in troubleshooting this performance issue?