The use of electronic health records has increased over the years, owing to the rising use of computers in different industries, including the healthcare business. The electronic health record is utilized in the healthcare business for a variety of purposes, including enabling a transition from paper to a paperless process. The use of an electronic health record offers both advantages and downsides.
The usage of an electronic health record has been connected to the protection of patients' health information. Privacy of the information regarding the health of the patient is critical as it ensures that there is no public knowledge about confidential issues. The paper record can be easily accessed by individuals who are not authorized because security breach can be easily done. On the other hand, the use of the Electronic health record ensures that there is a central place where all the patients' data is stored which makes it hard for non-authorized persons to access. The information is given to a specific patient electronically (Rodrigues, De La Torre, Fernández and López-Coronado, 2013).
Organizing health records
The application and the use of the electronic health record ensure that there is a proper organization of the health records because each time there is new information about the patient that has to be captured. The record system is updated within the central system that manages all information for the hospital. Also, the organization of the health records is based on the currency and accuracy that is applied in the process (Andrus, Forrester, Germain and Eiland, 2015).
Disadvantages
Cost
Despite the advantages that have been associated with the electronic health record, some disadvantages exist that makes its application to be undesirable. The first disadvantage that is related to the use of the electronic health record is the cost that is involved in the purchase of the equipment that is to be used in supporting the subsystem. The cost required is high since there is the use of modern computerized technologies. Also, the technology that is used is expensive because it comes with a backup that ensures that there is proper storage of the date even if there are issues with power outage (Menachemi and Collum, 2011).
Disruption of the workflow
Another disadvantage that has been linked to the use of the Electronic health record is that it has the ability cause disruption of the workflow within the hospital environment. Disturbance of the workflow that leads to low productivity comes from the end-users who are involved in the learning of the new system. Through learning the new system, there is an impact on their productivity as they spend most of the time learning how to use the electronic record especially when it has been introduced. Bessie of they're dedication towards learning the how the health record system works, they tend to be distracted from serving the people who visit the hospital (Menachemi and Collum, 2011).
Conclusion
The electronic health record has two significant advantages and two important disadvantages that have been covered in the essay. Based on the essay, the advantages are stronger based on they're long term impacts when it comes to record keeping within hospitals, and thus the Electronic health record is a great idea.
References
Andrus, M. R., Forrester, J. B., Germain, K. E., & Eiland, L. S. (2015). Accuracy of Pharmacy Benefit Manager Medication Formularies in an Electronic Health Record System and the Epocrates Mobile Application. Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy, 21(4), 281-286.
Menachemi, N., & Collum, T. H. (2011). Benefits and drawbacks of electronic health record systems. Risk management and healthcare policy, 4, 47.
Rodrigues, J. J., De La Torre, I., Fernández, G., & López-Coronado, M. (2013). Analysis of the security and privacy requirements of cloud-based electronic health records systems. Journal of medical Internet research, 15(8).
