Risks and Crises for Healthcare Providers: The Impact of Cloud Computing

Table 1

Results from WS 2—Information systems.

Rank	Field	Risk/crisis	Description
1	IS	Failure of the entire IT infrastructure, or of individual parts	The failure of the IT structures leads to the disturbance of the normal hospital workflow. The necessary flow of information is interrupted. Doctors and nurses cannot access important treatment information (such as laboratory test results). The administration cannot access rosters and accounting data.
2	IS	Trojan, virus, hacking	A criminal and defective attack on the information systems of a hospital has taken place. The data of the patient/hospital were copied, destroyed or damaged. The attacks are not or at a later timepoint noticed. The privacy of the patient is injured. Legal implications for the hospital might occur, if it is not proven that all necessary protective measures have been made.
3	IS	Application systems are not available	Application systems, which are necessary for adequate treatment of patients, such as the hospital information system (HIS) cannot be accessed. The technical staff of the hospital is unable to solve problems within a short time. The information (such as diagnostic images) required by the medical staff are not available. There are some limitations in the treatment as well as adequate performance documentation.
4	IS	Data theft/Social Hacking	Social Hacking is the acquisition of information through manipulation and deception of a person. Employees and partners have access to highly sensitive data. This approach is performed directly or through third parties. Because of carelessness or criminal activity, these data become public. For the hospital it means creating a large image damage and loss of reputation.
5	IS	Poor ergonomics lead to incorrect entries/interpretations	Poor software ergonomics lead to incorrect entries or misinterpretation of clinical data of patients. It can increase the appearance of incorrect entries. Due to outdated systems, the probability of incorrect entries or misidentification may still increase. There will be mistreatment of patients by the poor software ergonomics.