The Electronic Health Record Implementation Cycle Essay

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) states that in order to realize meaningful use of the EHR technology, healthcare providers are obliged to apply the technology in a approach that enriches quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare delivery; ebbs healthcare inconsistencies; involves patients and families; enriches care coordination; expands population and public health; and guarantees sufficient privacy and security guards for personal health information. (U.S Department of Health and

An EHR results from computer-based data collection. Physicians and other clinicians capture data at the point of care, with the ability to retrieve the data later for reporting and use in research or administrative decision

Electronic health records (EHR) are health records that are generated by health care professionals when a patient is seen at a medical facility such as a hospital, mental health clinic, or pharmacy. The EHR contains the same information as paper based medical records like demographics, medical complaints and prescriptions. There are so many more benefits to the EHR than paper based medical records. Accuracy of diagnosis, quality and convenience of patient care, and patient participation are a few examples of the

EHRs help your doctors coordinate your care and protect your safety - Since all my information as a patient is contained in the EHR system all of my doctors know what medications I am taking, whether it will interact with other medication, if I am allergic to any medication or if a particular drug did not work out for me in the past. This saves me from any risk of the wrong medication being prescribed and the cost of talking medication that does not work for me.

EHR was created to have a technical way to securely exchange private and personal medical health information in hopes to improve the quality of care, decrease medical errors, limiting paper use, reduction of health care cost, and increasing a person access to affordable health care. A mandate was created for EHR stating that health records can be accessible to all facilities with patients having the capability to access their own health records at any time. Ameliorating the quality and convenience of care given to a patient, allow for cost saving measures, engage the patient and family to participate in their care, improve accuracy of medical diagnosis, and enhance the efficiency of the overall outcome of the patients’ health.

EHRs can positively influence workplace efficiency and communication and improve productivity with better access to and organization of patient data (McGinn, et al., 2011). EHRs can improve operational efficiency by providing the capability of sharing of information within the practice. Additionally, health information can be shared with external health care organizations provided the proper interoperability infrastructure is in place. Physicians can access patient information anytime and anywhere the system is enabled, enhancing patient safety as well as quality and continuity of care, particularly for physicians on call or working at multiple sites. They also can have access to drug recalls or other alerts provided through the EHR.

This can lead to more successful patient health outcomes. "The promise of fully realized EHRs is having a single record that includes all of a patient's health information: a record that is up to date, complete, and accurate" (Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information, n.d.)

Another beneficial feature of EHR systems is that they allow different authorized professionals to access your information from anywhere at any point in time. If a patient checks into the Emergency Room, is moved to Radiology for imaging, then moved to Orthopedics for surgery and finally placed in a bed for recovery, each individual throughout that process will have access to that patient’s medical records without having to communicate with each department. This fosters an

Traditionally, we have our primary care physician to act as a core of all our medical records including all lab results and records sent from other doctors. Instances happened when we change doctors, when providers have out-of-date, incomplete information, the system breaks down and the new doctor have to start again obtaining information about the patient’s condition. Considering all the different types of information that make up a health record and all different places that it can came from. EHRs helps to have a single source including all of the medical information of the patient that makes any providers anywhere more knowledgeable and better be able to work with patients about their health with accurate,

By using EHR I can easily access about my patients information and find out quickly. It will also help me prevent my time, help me spend more time with my patient while going through

EHRs can aid in diagnosis because they can acquire reliable access to a patient's complete health information, picture can help providers diagnose patients' problem sooner.

Focusing on the outcome and not the process of the outcome, a needs assessment is a systematic approach to the electronic record adoption project scenario. The outcome of a needs assessment given scenario is the adoption of an Electronic Health Record system by the health care organization. For the site to adopt and accept implementation of an electronic health record system, benefits have to be clearly outlined and presented to the site staff. The staff must be convinced that the core functions of implementation of an electronic health records system is management of patient health information and data. Transitioning from an analogous patient records too EHR system, patient information and knowledge becomes immediately accessible and navigable by medical personnel. Electronic Health Record system would also provide the staff immediate access to testing result and CPOEs. Electronic health record CPOEs eliminates the self-evident sometimes ineligible physician order. Eliminating the time from when the physician prescribes the order to the time the procedure is performed is a core benefit to electronic health record application. Finally the staff needs to be informed that one of the outcomes of an electronic health record application system is decision support. Prevention, drug prescription, diagnosis, and disease management are functional EHR decision support functionality applications (“Comprehensive Needs Assessment,” ed.gov, 2001).

“An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users.” (healthit.gov) The EHR mandate was created “to share information with other health care providers and organizations – such as laboratories, specialists, medical imaging facilities, pharmacies, emergency facilities, and school and workplace clinics – so they contain information from all clinicians involved in a patient’s care.” ("Providers & Professionals | HealthIT.gov", n.d., p. 1) The process has proved to be quite challenging for providers. As an

The definition of the EHR is a place in which patient records are created, stored and retrieved. Most professionals have incorporated them into their practice. EHR’s are known to have allowed the sharing of information between a patients’ caregivers in an increased amount of time. They increase safety and efficiency in the clinical setting by delivering legible information.

Another big plus of the EHRs is that studies have shown that it has helped providers improve accuracy of diagnoses and health outcomes (Couch, 2008). For example, nurses could have reliable access to patients complete health information and have pictures which would help with whatever problem they might encounter. EHR doesn’t just keep patients medications and allergies, it also check for problems whenever a new medication is prescribed and it also alerts the nurse of potential problems (Couch, 2008). EHRs can also tell the nurse if potential safety problems occur, which helps them avoid more serious consequences for patients, which can lead to better outcomes. The EHRs can also help nurses quickly identify and correct operational problems, which compared to the paper-based setting, those kinds of problems would be more difficult to correct. It can also help