Health Information System

1032 Words3 Pages

Advantages and Disadvantages of the Selected System In the last decade or so, health information systems have drastically improved with efficiency and usability for patients and employees within the health care field. I have worked in many hospitals that have used several different kinds of health information systems throughout my nursing career. In my current workplace, at Kaiser Permanente, we are using the Epic information system. I will be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using Epic in regards to usability, interoperability, scalability, and compatibility. Usability: Epic software is an Electronic Medical Records (EMR) program that converts health care records from paper to digital, which is now used by many hospitals. …show more content…

The expectations in a fast-paced hospital for physicians and nurses are to provide safe and excellent care. While the volume of patients is steadily increasing, the expectations remain the same for the entire healthcare team. The use of technology is helpful, but it can also cause many problems, for instance, if the nurse’s assignment is to care for five patients, he or she must assess the patient, administer medications, and follow physician’s orders. The nurse will encounter infinite amount of problems throughout the day that occur during the shift. Using a computer system such as Epic can cause a lack of compassion towards the patient, and to individualized care for the patient becomes a burden for the nurse due to time constraints. As for the healthcare team that uses the system to chart, bill or schedule appointments, another critical flaw is a basic human error. The main usability disadvantage for the healthcare team is making unintentional mistake, which happen all the time, but in our profession, it can be detrimental to our patient. The obstacles that we face in using this system can be with inadequate staffing, distractions, fatigue, and using shortcuts due to frustration and lack of knowledge of the system. While there are many benefits and drawbacks in using a health information system like Epic, nurses and physicians need to continue to focus on patients’ needs and provide compassionate care while using technology to enhance the individualized demands of each

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