Adoption of a comprehensive patient record
Adoption of a comprehensive patient record is one of the most significant innovations in the health sector since it allows hospitals and community health clinics to share data. The electronic patient record system ensures that all patient information is available electronically and is aimed at updating and improving patient care delivery. Because of its convenience, the system has transformed the way doctors and nurses admit, treat, and discharge patients from hospitals. For example, EPR has altered operations at Lenox Hospital in Manhattan, New York, ensuring the delivery of high-quality services to all patients. The system ensures availability of information and improves management of referrals, treatment, and discharging of patients as well as reducing appointment rescheduling (Flemming & Hübner, 2013). Whenever a patient visits the health facility tracing of the history of his/her illness becomes quite easy. This facilitates quick and accurate diagnoses and the patient can have the best care possible provided by nurses. The EPR has several benefits in healthcare institutions in New York since it improves patient care by ensuring patient safety, enabling clinical management, and helping in sharing data.
EPR Design and its Contribution to Safety and Quality Care
EPR promotes patient safety due to reduction of human errors and improvement of patient information. This is due to the reduction of paper forms and records, which have a high risk of being lost during transfer from one department or facility to another. Both providers and patients benefits from EPR due to quick access to patient records and enhanced decision-making. It is possible to set clinical alert, reminders, and real-time quality reporting, which facilitates quick and effective services (Flemming & Hübner, 2013). The records are also legible, which helps in ensuring complete documentation in addition to facilitating accurate billing. The method is considered more reliable especially for giving prescriptions and other services, which are then stored for any future reference. Whenever e-prescriptions are sent to departments such as pharmacy, service delivery is improved since patients need to wait patiently for their turn to receive their medications. Every step done with EPR system tends to make the work of the healthcare providers easier while the patients receive quality services. For instance, it is easier to have electronic referrals, which allow good follow-up care with various health specialists. The need to introduce EPR is to ensure reliable access to information related to patients to ensure that they acquire effective care. Compiled reports for patients allow for careful analysis, which guides decisions made concerning diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. The information is always up-to-date, accurate, and complete with every detail about the patients thus helps in ensuring reliable prescription.
The Design and its Ability to accomplish the Task it is designed for
Utilization of EPR has several benefits such as enabling improved patient care since the information is collected and stored in a computer system where it is easy to retrieve whenever needed. The system is able to give a full patient record in various locations and providers of health care can have every data they need for a particular client (Nguyen, Bellucci & Nguyen, 2014). It creates confidence in patients since they believe that the healthcare workers have great interest in their wellbeing by storing their information safely and making it available in other treatment centers. Patients do not need to repeat similar information to different staff members or go through repeated tests in different hospitals since their electronic records allow easy access. Paper records have many disadvantages such as inaccessibility when needed. For instance, they have to be delivered physically to every department the patient is referred to making it quite cumbersome. With EPR the most recent and accurate information can be provided, which enables faster diagnoses, treatment plans, as well as patient discharge. In addition, treatment plans are greatly improved through sharing of patients data with other clinicians to ensure a tailored package. Some issues such as cancelled appointments will be reduced while referrals will be made quite fast.
Type of Data Tracked
The types of data tracked by this system include patients' personal information such as name, age, place of residence, and contact among others. These enable the practitioners to make decisions, which are more specific to the individual seeking health care services. The other relevant data include the history of the patients, current health problem, prescription, and physician's notes regarding the general condition of the patients (Flemming & Hübner, 2013). Lab tests needed, referrals, and recommendations for further specialized tests are also indicated.
Effectiveness of the PR System
The EPR system is very effective in accomplishing the tasks it is designed for since it reduces the amount of paperwork and quickens decision-making about the diagnosis for the patient. The fact that it allows for tracking of the patient's progress as well as sharing the information with other specialists proves that the system is very efficient (Nguyen, Bellucci & Nguyen, 2014). One does not need to repeat details in every department since the system allows interconnectedness in which information can be shared across various departments. It is also accurate and allows for the confidentiality of the data since only authorized persons can have access to it.
Its ability to support Research
The system is useful in supporting research since it allows retrieval of required data within a short time. In addition, it ensures availability of information on various categories of patients under research (Maillet, Mathieu & Sicotte, 2015). For instance, if a researcher wants data on the number of women treated for breast cancer, the system is able to sort them out and allow its access within the shortest period. The researcher can also track the progress of the patients in different centers they sought treatment and find out whether they deteriorated or not. Researchers do not spend a lot of time searching for the data they need since their do not need to peruse files relating to the topic of study.
Opportunities for nurses in Testing the System
Nurses also participate in design and testing of the system since they make use of it in many ways. For instance, they are responsible for reading prescriptions and dispatching the prescribed drugs to patients. When designing it, nurses need to know how information flows and the way they have to use it when attending to the patients' needs. For instance, they need a section where they can tick to show the administered drugs, injections, and any other care as well as give notice about the patients' progress especially if they notice any deterioration and alert the doctors. When testing the system, nurses should be allowed to use it and make comment on the changes they think are appropriate for it to accommodate their role.
How to Enhance the Technology
Improving the EPR system helps in ensuring quality services for patients and ease of use by the healthcare providers. One way of improving the system is sampling opinions from the users on the challenges of its use in various departments. The system should be improved to capture more data by use of many available documentation options such as templates that can allow for longer narrations (Middleton, Bloomrosen, Dente, Hashmat, Koppel, Overhage ... & Zhang, 2013). Other options that need improvement include enabling of paste and link options to avoid the need for duplication of similar content. In addition, more drop down menus are necessary to reduce time spent typing common ailments, symptoms, or diagnoses by doctors and other providers. Other improvement include use of bios such as fingerprint whenever a health worker logs in and makes any changes to improve confidentiality and avoid intrusion by unauthorized persons.
What is learned from the technology?
I believe that the EPR system is one of the best developments made in the health sector for facilitating patient care, sharing of information, and follow-up on recovery progress. The technology is very much related to the materials learned in class about implementation of technology in the health sector. Every health care institution needs to try EPR and offer patients the best care possible.
References
Flemming, D., & Hübner, U. (2013). How to improve Change of Shift Handovers and Collaborative Grounding and what Role does the Electronic Patient Record System Play? Results of a Systematic Literature Review. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 82(7), 580-592.
Maillet, É., Mathieu, L., & Sicotte, C. (2015). Modeling Factors Explaining the Acceptance, Actual Use and Satisfaction of Nurses Using an Electronic Patient Record in Acute Care Settings: An Extension of the UTAUT. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 84(1), 36-47.
Middleton, B., Bloomrosen, M., Dente, M. A., Hashmat, B., Koppel, R., Overhage, J. M., ... & Zhang, J. (2013). Enhancing Patient Safety and Quality of Care by Improving the Usability of Electronic Health Record Systems: Recommendations from AMIA. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 20(e1), e2-e8.
Nguyen, L., Bellucci, E., & Nguyen, L. T. (2014). Electronic Health Records Implementation: An Evaluation of Information System Impact and Contingency Factors. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 83(11), 779-796.
