Electronic Health Record Issues in Health Care Health information systems must work for those that are at the point of service. This is because they are the first point of contact and the face of the health care system. These individuals are usually doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and pharmacists who are providing patient care and need to maintain patient trust. Patient who seeks medical advice trust that treatment decisions made from providers consists of quality and care. By using electronic health records, provider communication will increase and medical errors will be reduced due to the ease of use. However, among these advantages, complications such as user resistance, cost and patient safety continues to challenge electronic health record implementations and further delay its use. In order to ensure electronic health records are ready for prime time, this paper will review the current issues of electronic health records and its disadvantages. Following this review, possible solutions will be provided to address the pressing issues of electronic health records. Finally, a conclusion will be made regarding how electronic health records should continue to deliver quality and help providers develop a patient centered care.
User Resistance First of all, users resist system changes due to the loss of productivity and lack of technological support. This is because every time there is a new system change, user work flows always change. When workflows change, the
Amatayakul, M. K. (2009, January 01). Electronic Health Records: A practical Guide for Professionals and Organizations. VitalSource Bookshelf(4). Chicago, Illinois, USA: AHIMA Press. Retrieved August 2012, from <http://online.vitalsource.com/books
In 2009, the Health Technology for Electronic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) of 1996 was expanded. This expansion included mandated guidelines for health care systems in the Unites States to continue implementing of Electronic Health Records (EHR) in health care settings by 2016 and added a provision to improve protection of patient health information through privacy and security Turk (2015) . The implementation of this program has created a debate in the medical community. In addition, many healthcare organizations and institutions have conducted research studies and surveys to evaluate the effects of the EHR on documentation of care and other aspects of the EHR. Challenges surrounding the HER include, the cost of implementing EHR’s, time spent performing documentation, and patient outcomes and safety and security concerns. Let’s further delve into a few of these challenges.
The purpose of this paper is to review and summarize the literature on the pros and cons of electronic health record systems. This paper describes the many benefits of electronic health record systems, which include but are not limited to, less paperwork, increased quality of care, financial incentives, and increased efficiency and productivity. Organizational outcomes and societal benefits are also addressed. Despite the tremendous amount of benefits, studies in the literature highlight potential disadvantages of electronic health record systems. These disadvantages include privacy and security concerns, identity theft, data loss, financial issues, and changes in workflow, involving a temporary loss of productivity. Preventative measures that can be taken are addressed as well. Overall, people believe that the benefits of electronic health records can be realized when they are used correctly, and proper measures are taken to reduce any potential drawbacks.
Electronic health records is a major component in the United States health care system. It has been proven to improve health care quality by saving time and reducing
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
Electronic Health Records (EHR) are changing the way health care is delivered to patients, not just how patient medical information is stored. In the recent past, patient-doctor visits consisted of handwritten multiple medical forms to be completed, and most times duplicated. There were several areas of concern with past patient record keeping, omission of important care information, medical interventions and prescribed medication were missed in certain cases, erroneously prescribed or duplicated and records were lost or misplaced. EHR facilities and improves the quality of care by refining access to patient record by multiple health care providers and the patient; better decision support; reporting occurs in real time and is legible which
The utilization of electronic health records (EHR) has become increasingly common in the inpatient hospital setting and outpatient care. EHRs benefit the physician, patient, and healthcare facility. Historically, electronic records were not in place for healthcare organizations, and currently, it helps the organization in several ways instead of using paper. Patients have access to their medical records and history, which gives them readily available information about their health. Proper implementation of an EHR system results in higher patient satisfaction. The benefits of EHRs significantly improve the care experience for patients physically and mentally. Additionally, patient care is improved because the patient can leave their doctor’s office with a complete copy of their medical record. While inpatient and outpatient care has several similarities, there are also many differences, as well as challenges with both healthcare setting with implementing the EHR.
When I had the internship in one of the clinic in Brooklyn as a Medical Assistant, the Doctor asked me to have a notebook which she called it a CHEAT Sheet, it will allow to everybody in the clinic to quickly locate or find , understand and finish the routine tasks without asking the doctor or looking to the manual or instruction. She said that in the long run I will need it and it is true. She need that all her intern knows their responsibility, to the specific of their practice workflow. Because in the office or clinic, we are suppose to be quick and accurate and fast. It was not only administrative it is also clinical, what I practice in the clinic. So we have
This paper will identify the use of Electronic Health Records and how nursing plays an important role. Emerging in the early 2000’s, utilizing Electronic Health Records have quickly become a part of normal practice. An EHR could help prevent dangerous medical mistakes, decrease in medical costs, and an overall improvement in medical care. Patients are often taking multiple medications, forget to mention important procedures/diagnoses to providers, and at times fail to follow up with providers. Maintaining an EHR could help tack data, identify patients who are due for preventative screenings and visits, monitor VS, & improve overall quality of care in a practice. Nurse informaticists play an important role in the
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the efficacy of information management systems and the impact of these systems on patient outcomes and quality of care. A literature review was conducted from peer-reviewed journal publications from the last eight years (2007-2015). The results were inconclusive to show that electronic health records (EHR) have a definitive impact on patient outcomes. Some studies found a positive impact but the majority did not show a difference, neither positive nor negative, on the influence of patient outcomes or quality of care. As EHR systems continue to develop and the implementation of meaningful use guidelines, as defined by The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (2010), is in place, the research shows that there will likely be a strong impact on patient outcomes. While the findings of this paper neither support nor refute improvement in patient outcomes, it can be predicted that the continued growth of health information systems will lead to improved patient outcomes through the ability to alert providers and facilitate proper medication prescriptions and administration in addition to other EHR features. The use of EHRs allows for reports to be easily pulled from data relating to patient care, which can guide providers to ensure best practices are being followed. While the implementation of EHRs
Definition, Structure, Content, Use and Impact of Electronic Health Records: A Review of The Research Literature, written by Kristiina Hayrinen. Definition, Structure, Content, Use and Impact of Electronic Health Records is a literature review that aims at how electronic health records are defined, how the structure of the records is described, and in what context are EHR used (“Purpose,” ijmijournal.com, 2008).” The research study was conducted on four databases with the assistance of a librarian. The databases were the National Library of Medicine, Cinahl Information Systems, Inventory of Evaluation Publications, and Cochrane databases. The review included EHR reviews published between 1982 and 2004. The format of the published research review begins by describing
Electronic medical records (EMR) software is a rapidly changing and often misunderstood technology with the potential to cause great change within the medical field. Unfortunately, many healthcare providers fail to understand the complex functions of EMRs, and they rather choose to use them as a mere alternative to paper records. EMRs, however, have many functionalities and uses that could help to improve the patient-physician relationship and the overall quality of patient care. In order for this potential to be realized, both the patient and the healthcare provider must have a deeper understanding of EMR purpose and function. In this paper will highlights the historical developments and its potential effects on the patient physician relationship in order to
Electronic health records (EHR’s) have many advantages, but there are plenty of disadvantages. EHR’s were created to manage the many aspects of healthcare information. Medical professionals use them daily and most would feel lost without it. Healthcare organizations were encouraged to adopt EHR’s in 2009 due to the fact that a bill passed known as The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act). “The HITECH Act outlines criteria to achieve “meaningful use” of certified electronic records. These criteria must be met in order for providers to receive financial incentives to promote adoption of EHRs as an integral part of their daily practice”, (Conrad, Hanson, Hasenau & Stocker-Schneider, 2012).
As the relevant literature indicates, electronic health records will have man consequences not only for health care providers and their staffs but also for patients and their family members, insurance companies, IT developers, and others. Information on these consequences was gathered from peer-reviewed publications as well other reputable academic, medical, and media sources. In examining the information, it is evident that there are both advantages and disadvantages in the changes that have already taken place, and that there are many predictions of the effects of changes that have yet to occur. In carefully examining and weighing these
In today’s medical field technology plays a big role when it comes to patient care. Technology is huge when it comes to giving the patient the best type of quality care when they are in the hospital. In the old days people would just write it down on a sheet of paper and record it by hand, which caused mistakes. Now with the Electronic Health Record those mistakes are drastically declining. Statistics have shown that using the Electronic Health Record has lowered Nursing mistakes as well as improved patient care. Our society has progressed through the years and has been introduced with the Electronic Health Record which has drastically improved our health care system. The Electronic Health Record provides great communication between