Eehealth Interoperability

Analyze the requirements of the system and how this DSS is reducing medical errors and improving clinical practice.

After decades of paper based medical records, a new type of record keeping has surfaced - the Electronic Health Record (EHR). EHR is an electronic or digital format concept of an individual’s past and present medical history. It is the principle storage place for data and information about the health care services provided to an individual patient. It is maintained by a provider over time and capable of being shared across different healthcare settings by network-connected information systems. Such records may include key administrative and clinical data relevant to that persons care under a particular provider. Examples of such records may include: demographics, physician notes, problems or injuries, medications and allergies, vital

Electronic retrieval of patient demographics, allergies, current medications, complete medical history, diagnostic and radiologic results, etc. occurs by clicking a few buttons. Electronic patient charts provide quick and easy access to physicians, hospitals, independent labs, and pharmacies. EHRs allow simultaneous access by independent providers and allow a collaborative effort for health care management of the patient. “EHRs are the next step in the continued progress of healthcare that can strengthen the relationship between patients and clinicians”. (Electronic Health Records Overview, 2011)

An Electronic Health Record is a computerized form of a patient’s medical chart. These records allow information to be readily available to authorized providers during a patient’s encounter with the healthcare system. These systems do not only contain medical histories, current medications and insurance information, they also track patients’ diagnoses, treatment plans, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images and lab tests/results (source). The fundamental aspect of EHRs is that they are able to share a patient’s information quickly across service lines and even between different healthcare organizations. Information is at the fingertips of lab techs, primary care physicians, pharmacies, clinics, etc. The

Healthcare have came a long way in adopting and integrating technology and HER systems in a daily basses. On a studies reported on HealthIT.gov, the majority of physicians believe that electronic medical records provide a better view of their patients’ total health – allowing for better diagnoses while reducing the chance of medical errors ("HealthIT.gov | the official site for Health IT information," n.d.). The major importance EHR that stands out is to improve the quality and safety of care. IN addition it allow a better and safe transition of care as well

Healthcare organizations (HCOs) are implementing patient portals and beginning to allow the patient access to pieces of their record online through web portals. This is a step toward actually implementing an electronic health record (EHR). According to Garets and Davis (2006), an EHR is actually a subset of an electronic medical record (EMR) and is actually an interactive piece that allows the patient to add and correct data in their personal EHR over time. Data is shared with the regional health information organization (RHIO) or the national health information network (NHIN) via summary documents like the continuity of care record (CCR) or continuity of care document (CCD). In order for the patient to have the ability to share this data

Simply stated, the way in which healthcare defines the meaningful use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is the improvement of safety, quality, and efficiency of care (Blumenthal & Tavenner, 2010). In order to achieve such broad goals, meaningful use has been divided into three stages over nearly a decade. Currently, the healthcare industry has reached the third and final stage of meaningful use, which aims to simplify the EHR programs and drive interoperability amongst the different EHRs (Athenahealth, 2018). Implementation of the infrastructure should be complete and healthcare providers are expected to begin linking their networks with other networks.

Recent developments in usage of Information Technology in Healthcare systems has paved way for a transparent and universal collection of patient information in the form of EHR(Electronic Heath Records) and PHR(Personal Health Records)[1]. The objective of making data interoperable and accessible to concerned authorities definitely has potential, but at the same time needs a proper understanding to build an efficient framework . This paper talks about the needs and challenges concerned to such a framework aimed at facilitating exchange of information between three primary consumers of health data,

The traditional patient chart is migrating from a paper base to electronic base in 21st century. This is achieved by use of instantly available and secure Electronic Health Records (EHRs) which are real time, patient. The EHRs have evolved from simply being the repositories of vital data, prescription history and treatment histories of patients, to a broader view of patient care stemming from healthcare intelligence and clinical decision support systems. The EHRs today are used to manage practice operations; and share and coordinate information and knowledge with other providers, departments and organizations so as to streamline a patient’s health care and treatment regime.

Interoperability – There has been a deficiency of standards which mandate interoperability across the various mHealth solutions. This is one of the major reasons for limiting the scalability of mHealth solutions. The consumers often transmit data they collect using their mobile device to their health records or health care provider, which generally aids the provider in diagnosis. The health care provider can also possibly incorporate this data in the patient/consumer’s EHR (Electronic Health Record). Such prospects could raise various multi layered issues relating interoperability (e.g. - technical, semantic, legal, organizational).

The Clinical Reminder System Clinical decision support methodologies and applications have been put into place to minimize practice variations and improve patient care. They apply data-driven methods to enhance the utility and management of clinical knowledge, patient information, and population data (Zheng, n.d.). This data is significant to a community’s health in addition to the patients care as well. Clinical Decision Support Systems According to Tan & Payton (2010), “Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) are computer-based information-processing and decision support tools intended to serve as aids in the rationalization of the clinical decision-making process and/or justifying final choices clinicians have advocated for their patients” (p. 125).

The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe two health information and communication technologies (HICTs) and how they aid nurses in supporting safe, quality care, facilitating continuity of care and care coordination, and partnering with patients and families to increase participation in health care. HICT involves electronic creation, storage, exchange, and analysis of health information to advance delivery of health care. Widespread use of HICT within the healthcare industry can achieve the following goals: improve healthcare quality and safety, reduce costs and health disparities, enhance clinical research, and ensure security of patient health information (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015). Several examples of HICTs include: electronic medical record systems, electronic prescribing, consumer health applications, and telehealth (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], 2015). Integration of HICTs in healthcare settings is valuable for all clinicians, but most importantly nurses as they are primary caregivers.

Based on rules, clinical decision support system (CDSS) may serve poorly in healthcare due to the if—then function. This system takes a diagnosis and spits out appropriate information based on the individual situation that it is analyzing. However, modern medicine can be considered as scientifically grounded, but evidence based practices can maintain a theoretical approach. There is some sort of conflict when trying to combine scientific perspectives with rational theories5. Hence, many errors can occur using the CDSS, such as alert fatigue, shifting of human roles, and currency of the CDS content6. There is a key issues of safety management when considering CDSS. There are certain systems that are better than others; hence great attention

Clinical decision-support systems (CDSS) apply best-known medical knowledge to patient data for the purpose of generating case-specific decision-support advice. CDSS forms the cornerstone of health informatics research and practice. It is an embedded concept in almost all major clinical information systems and plays an instrumental role in helping health care achieve its ultimate goal: providing high quality patient care while, at the same time, assuring patient safety and reducing costs. This computer based systems designed to impact clinician decision making about individual patients at the point in time that these decisions are made. If used properly, CDSS have the potential to change the way medicine has been taught and

It is important to understand that patients are very satisfied with electronic health systems. For example, patients see a vast improvement in the speed at which they are being seen when they go their doctors’ office. Patients no longer have to wait on their physicians for hours due to the fact that their information can be readily available to their physicians when they come to see them. Moreover, all their information is transparent to their health care provider since all their data is in electronic form.