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
Electronic health information systems prevent errors by involving everyone in a primary health care setting which mainly includes specialists office, emergency department to access the same
Advantages: Fast and simple – Easy to understand – With different EHR programs (EPIC or Powerhcart) all the standardized terminology are the same – Not only nursing understand the terms but other healthcare providers will also – There should be no assumption what the terms mean because it’s a universal terms in all EHR.
Epic is system wide throughout the hospital and its ancillary centers that is an electronic medical record system. It was implemented into the hospital to streamline and organize the records of patients so that no matter where they are in the hospital, their record is instantly accessible to healthcare providers and all departments at any time. Epic has received the Best in KLAS award in 2014 and also is the #1 software suite five years running. KLAS is dedicated to providing “the single best source of honest, unbiased information about the software and equipment that keeps healthcare moving forward.” KLAS has stated that epic is a leader in the market for adding clients because their system is low risk and
Today, I will be speaking about the Epic System and why it is so significant. The Epic system is a software that majority of hospital and health clinic’s practice. Epic is a private company with private owned employees. It is a system in the computer that keeps files confidential and secluded. Epic system is used often in hospitals and healthcare clinics because it is easy to learn, organized, safe and secure. As stated in Epic.com “EpicCare EMR is known for being fast and physician-friendly”. With this said more health care facilities prefer to use this system. Also, most of these businesses are beginning to start their employees out on this program. Another key point, with this system patients are benefiting from it as well. A lot of patients
Unfortunately, the quality of health care in America is flawed. Information technology (IT) offers the potential to address the industry’s most pressing dilemmas: care fragmentation, medical errors, and rising costs. The leading example of this is the electronic health record (EHR). An EHR, as explained by HealthIT.gov (n.d.), is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. It includes, but is not limited to, medical history, diagnoses, medications, and treatment plans. The EHR, then, serves as a resource that aids clinicians in decision-making by providing comprehensive patient information.
Learning Experience Journal Entry – Director of Health Information Management and the Supervisor of Medical Records Coder
middle of paper ... ... ficiency and effectiveness of care • Provides caregivers with clinical decision support tools • Reduces and possibly eliminates redundant / unnecessary testing • Improved reporting and monitoring of public health and related statistics • Provides a basic level of interoperability among electronic health records (EHRs) maintained by individual physicians and organizations • Hopefully will eventually reduce health related costs (HealthIT.gov, 2013) While the thought is good and outcomes still in prediction phase, the current reality is that there is still a hefty financial impact to be worked out. There will always be a safety and privacy concerns and long as new and emerging technologies continue to need integrations, and HIE will only work with long term political support and financial backing not driven by individual gain, but rather by collective collaborations.
Nurses are fundamental to the process of implementation of certain systems used in the workplace. Nurses should be allowed to have input and suggestions regarding what works and what doesn’t when it comes to those systems, whether it is the EMR, healthcare organization systems, or even the use of point of care systems (Mitchell, 2011). This allows for open collaboration between the nurses and information technology to come up with solutions and user friendly applications when needed. The technology world is ever changing and with that comes new ways to monitor and take care of our patients.
Health information management involves the practice of maintaining and taking care of health records in hospitals, health insurance companies and other health institutions, by the use of electronic means (McWay 176). Storage of medical information is carried out by health information management and HIT professionals using information systems that suit the needs of these institutions. This paper answers four major questions concerning health information systems.
Also, these studies question those who are effected; in this case, those who are most effected, is everyone. Doctors and nurses spend the most time working within these systems, but the information that is put into these systems effects every individual in America, because it is their information. Because nurses are often considered “both coordinators and providers of patient care” and they “attend to the whole patient,” their opinion is highly regarded (Otieno, Toyama, Asonuma, Kanai-Pak, & Naitoh, 2007, p. 210). It is clear that the use of these new systems is much debated, and many people have their own, individualized opinion. This information suggests that when there is a problem in the medical field, those who address it attempt to gather opinions from everyone who is involved before proceeding. It has been proven by multiple studies that this system of record keeping does in fact have potential to significantly improve patient health through efficiency, and it is because of this that the majority of hospitals have already completed, or begun the transfer from paperless to electronic (Otieno, Toyama, Asonuma, Kanai-Pak, & Naitoh,
Over the past decade, technological advances have paved the way for nurses to provide, quality, safe, standardized and individualized patient care (Saba & McCormick, 2015). The use of the Electronic Health Records (EHR) to manage patient data is quickly becoming widespread in the healthcare industry. The emerging use of the Electronic Health Record, is transforming how nurses care for patients. By creating and implementing an electronic, comprehensive, standardized method of recording patient data, nurses can facilitate and coordinate patient care with members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team. The use of the Electronic Health Record will promote positive
Technology is stated as the scientific method and material used to achieve a commercial or industrial objective. To go one step further, nursing technology is using a tool to advance nursing practice. “The Institute of medicine identified that technology as a viable method of enhancing patient care delivery and improving staff productivity” Sensmeier, Horowitz (2003 page). Because inadequate nursing staff causes shortcuts to be taken, there are mistakes made that could have possibly been prevented. Errors by nursing staff were variously reported as being responsible for between 44,000 and 98,000 hospital deaths per year. Sensmeier, Horowitz (2003). Technology can have a large impact on nursing. In the past 5 to 10 years, computerized patient records have increased less than 10%. This number shows us that we are still not embracing technology to its full potential. Today in most hospital systems computerized electronic charting is being used. Many hospitals have many different systems for...
Our clinical knowledge is expanding. The researcher has first proposed the concept of electronic health record (EHR) to gather and analyze every clinical outcome. By late 1990s computer-based patient record (CPR) replaced with the term EHR (Wager et al., 2009). The process of implementing EHR occurs over a number of years. An electronic record of health-related information on individual conforms interoperability standards can create, manage and consult with the authorized health professionals (Wager et al., 2009). This information technology system electronically gather and store patient data, and supply that information as needed to the healthcare professionals, as well as a caregiver can also access, edit or input new information; this system function as a decision support tools to the health professionals. Every healthcare organization is increasingly aware of the importance of adopting EHR to improve the patient satisfaction, safety, and lowering the medical costs.
From state and federal levels, the healthcare industry has come a very long way, experiencing changes along the way. The development of advanced technology that has enhanced the quality of healthcare delivery systems will help all patients to be able to benefit. Doctors are able to access patient records at a faster rate and respond to their patients in a much more timely fashion. E-mail, electronic transfer of records and telemedicine will give all patients and physicians the tools needed to be more efficient, deliver quality care and deliver quality telecommunication at a faster pace than before.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been shown to be increasingly important in the education or training and professional practice of healthcare. This paper discusses the impacts of using ICT in Healthcare and its administration. Health Information technology has availed better access to information, improved communication amongst physicians, clinicians, pharmacists and other healthcare workers facilitating continuing professional development for healthcare professionals, patients and the community as a whole. This paper takes a look at the roles, benefits of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in healthcare services and goes on to outline the ICT proceeds/equipment used in the health sector such as the