Description Of Emergency Department Information Systems

Determining which attributes are most frequently associated with ED throughput will allow insight into the concept. The antecedents will be described in the following paragraphs. Clear focused vision; The ED should be viewed as a key customer of the ancillary departments. If the mission is to provide quality compassionate healthcare, then all staff need to work hard towards

This case analysis of Stanford’s Hospital and Clinics (SHC) electronic medical record (EMR) system implementation will focus on how the healthcare organization focused on resolving a problem to meet regulatory pressures and responded to an opportunity to create operational efficiency, by capitalizing on the use of information technology to help reduce costs. We will discuss the organization’s IT problems, opportunities, and the alternatives available to address each. We will summarize an analysis of potential alternatives including the organization’s EMR system of choice and conclude with a recommendation to the Board on how to rollout the new system.

S (situation): Hi, my name Kelsey and I am a nurse in the emergency department. I am calling about Shannon O’Reilly’s most recent laboratory results.

The electronic medical record system (EMR) serves many purposes in an emergency for the patient, physicians, and hospitals involved in the diagnosis and care during an emergency.

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

DEEDS – Data Elements for Emergency Department Systems collects data elements from hospital-based emergency rooms.

Our one hundred bed hospital is in need of updating from paper charting to computerized health records. In doing this, we will meet our goal of compliance with meaningful use legislation. We assembled a team of members to assist with this task and together we have narrowed the search to two health care systems. Those two systems are EPIC and Meditech and we will now discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each, with a final recommendation for our new healthcare system.

“a paperless, digital and computerized system of maintaining patient data, designed to increase the efficiency and reduce documentation errors by streamlining the process.”(Santiago, n.d., para. 1)

Along with the new technologies applying in healthcare, the documentation processes and storages also change from paper charts to computer-based electronic health records (EHR). Many healthcare organizations currently maintain patients’ health records in both formats of paper and electronic. The combination is known as hybrid health record system, which is used to assist in different methods that patients’ information is collected. Hybrid health records (HHR) contain specific patients’ health information. HHRs are stored manually and electronically in multiple places. Current patients’ health records usually contain both digital documents and handwritten notes. Patients’ data are electronically stored, such as laboratory, radiology tests,

Medical treatments require a great deal of paperwork. Before patients are allowed to go through treatments, a clinic must process their insurances, medical records, and surgery details. As a result, a lot of private information is gathered within the hospitals. With so much private information, it is essential for healthcare facilities to efficiently organize their paperwork. An unorganized recording system can prove disastrous to a hospital. Leaving patients’ paperwork publicly unattended and misplacing a file are both considered negligent. Misplacing patients’ information can potentially lead to information theft and invasion of privacy. An efficient way of storing information can be valuable in preventing HIPAA

EMR concerns are plaguing the health care industry today that requires change. Healthcare professionals, such as nurses, are on the front lines in the defense against medical errors. Closing the gap between current clinical and hospital practices and the various approaches to improving patient safety requires changes that are cultural and systemic in nature. The greatest challenge to hospitals using an EMR system is the expense of the new system, and the challenge nurses face with technology adoption in usage of EMR and protection of records. Even though spending depends on both the hospital size and the technologies were chosen, implementation and installation of a Health Information Technology system, which includes EMR, are often multi-year investments. The transition from a paper-based system to an electronic system is a very complicated process within every hospital establishment. The transformation is time-consuming and involves numerous staff from across the hospital, including Information Technology personnel, physicians, nurses, ancillary providers, etc. Although hospitals work hard at managing the changes required to move toward an electronic environment, there is no guarantee that hospital personnel will properly utilize the expensive new IT system or EMR. Therefore, the training in the EMR integration is required to all medical staff to have an efficient and uncomplicated system.

Currently, the healthcare industry only spends 2% of gross revenues on health information technology, while the banking industry spends upwards of 10%. However, the Veterans Healthcare System is one of the largest integrated systems in the world. One hundred fifty-five hospitals and eight hundred clinics rely on one electronic health system (Gupta & Murtaza, 2009). Implementing information systems in hospitals is more challenging than elsewhere because of the complexity of medical data, data entry problems, security and confidentiality concerns and a general lack of awareness of the benefits of Information Technology (Boonstra et al., 2014). The newly implemented system must be reliable from the onset as patient care does not cease in the meantime. Technology has the potential to streamline current practices and reduce costs, however, hospitals must consider the potential risks and consequences of a poorly implemented project and agree that failure is not an option. Good project planning and management can assure success of Electronic Health Record

It can overall increase productivity and profit in the long-term. For instance, my workplace instills usage of electronic medical records for new and current patients for efficiency, productivity, and accuracy for the long-term of patients dental x-rays and health history. The costs involved are considerable and hard to calculate depending on the fees and licensing. According to, (Health Resources and Services Administration, 2016), a persistent problem is demonstrating a return on investment from an (EHR) implementation is often times challenging and may be even more difficult for smaller practices. The cost and effort involved from staff and management is difficult, but necessary to carry out productivity for implementation of (EHR). Every company practice is different and every practice must adapt to changes of implementing (EMR) for the duration of patient accuracy. Aside from the challenges, cost, and effort of implementing (EMR)’s in health care organizations, there is a desire to generate a return on investment (ROI) from them.

Prior to the Information Age, medical records were all stored in folders in secure filing cabinets at doctor’s offices, hospitals, or health departments. The information within the folders was confidential, and shared solely amongst the patient and physician. Today these files are fragmented across multiple treatment sites due to the branching out of specialty centers such as urgent care centers, magnetic resonance imaging, outpatient surgical centers, and other diagnostic centers. Today’s ability to store medical records electronically has made it possible to easily send these files from one location to another. However, the same technology which can unify the fragmented pieces of a patient’s medical record has the ability to also create

In 2005, HIMSS Analytics developed the eight-stage EMR Adoption Model. The model reflects the results of more than 5,000 institutions surveyed about their level of clinical system implementation and progress toward a paperless EMR (HIMSS, 2009). To progress through each stage of the model, capabilities within each stage must be operational and all lower stages must have been achieved before a higher level will be considered achieved (HIMSS, 2009).