Informatics Solution Proposal Issue Identification Paper
Informatics Solution Proposal Issue Identification Paper
Problem Identified: Using Paper Charts For All Patient Records
Patients’ health records has transformed into a critical component of healthcare that impact on quality care and patient outcomes. Healthcare records offer healthcare givers the most reliable source of data to complete multiple functions and purposes (Shenoy & Appel, 2017 Informatics Solution Proposal Issue Identification Paper). There are numerous professionals in a hospital setting that require to use a patient’s medical record daily. EHR is a patient-centered care that require interprofessional collaboration, centralized storage of patient data which is accessible online offers the required flexibility and convenience compared to paper-based systems.
Electronic Health Record reduces medical errors. The biggest disadvantage of paper-based patient records is that they are error-prone. Considering the fact that paper-based records are hand-written, there is a high degree of error. Errors in paper-based health records range from ineligible writing to misspelt diagnosis and medication, which lead to error in treatment of patients (Lin, Lin & Chen, 2019 Informatics Solution Proposal Issue Identification Paper). In Electronic Health Records (EHR), the record contains more accurate and extensive information spanning from a patient’s medical history, the treatment plan, lab test results, diagnoses, and medication history. All of these critical factors may not always be present in paper-based patient health record.
EHR allows interprofessional collaboration which impact positively on patient outcome. Paper-based health records is cumbersome and time-wasting for medical professionals. In paper-based health records, nurses, doctors and other health professionals have to shuffle through voluminous files searching for patient’s information. They spend a lot of time searching and sorting through files which is cumbersome and uses a lot of time (Akhu-Zaheya, Al‐Maaitah & Hani, 2018 Informatics Solution Proposal Issue Identification Paper).
However, through EHR, with a simple stroke of a few keys on the keyboard, nurses and health professionals can access the entire medical history of a patient in the shortest time possible. Besides, EHR relieve health facilities from the need to store bulky documents in cabinets, a factor which frees up space that could be used for more critical things such as supplies, equipment, and other essentials. Informatics Solution Proposal Issue Identification Paper
Informatics Solution Proposal: Issue Identification Paper References
- Akhu‐Zaheya, L., Al‐Maaitah, R., & Hani, S. B. (2018). Quality of nursing documentation: Paper‐based health records versus electronic‐based health records. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(3-4), e578-e589. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14097
- Lin, Y. K., Lin, M., & Chen, H. (2019). Do electronic health records affect quality of care? Evidence from the HITECH Act. Information Systems Research, 30(1), 306-318. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2018.0813
- Shenoy, A., & Appel, J. M. (2017). Safeguarding confidentiality in electronic health records. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 26(2), 337-341. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0963180116000931
Also read: Annotated Bibliography on Medication Errors