Use of Electronic Medical Records in Healthcare

Use of Electronic Medical Records in Healthcare

Introduction

Electronic medical record is described by IOM Patient Safety Report 2003 as a compilation of electronic health information longitudinally for and about persons that is meant for immediate electronic access to authorized users about person- and population-level information for the rendering of knowledge and decision-support systems that improve the quality, safety, and effectiveness of patient care and corroborate for efficient processes for health care delivery. The National Alliance of Health Information Technology (2008) illustrates electronic medical record as electronic documentation of health-associated details of an individual that can be produced, assembled, supervised, and consulted or looked up by authoritative clinicians and personnel within one health care organization. Lists of patient issues, medicaments, allergic reaction, in addition to health maintenance data, improvement notes, different test outcomes, and ordering functions are characteristically contained by an EMR. (Bates et. al., 2003)

For centuries, paper-based records have been existent and for more than twenty years in western healthcare systems, their continuing substitution by electronic-based records has been gradually on track. Though, the same level of penetration is not accomplished by electronic records in healthcare as that visualized in other sectors and the implemented EMR systems have been used mostly for administrative purposes instead of clinical rationales. However, the interest and realization of EMR has developed considerably, as health care organizations step forward into the twenty-first century, (Carroll et. al, 2007). Reports on the advantages of EMR, from numerous health care organizations that have put into practice them, take account of improved patient safety with a drastic reduction in medical errors, enhanced time efficiency, and decision support tools (Deese & Stein, 2004). Teamwork can also be promoted by across disciplines by enhancing the visibility of each disciplines' work. According to Beaty (2007), by capturing and piling up nursing data, EMR also has the capability to get results particularly to nursing. Nevertheless, because of the immense financial and organizational prerequisites, wide-ranging EMR implementation is has not yet come about (Ash & Bates, 2005). Since some organizations have implemented EMR without the appropriate grounding, variation exists among experiences with adoption (Murphy, 2007). In 2004, then President of United States, George W. Bush took an initiative for the readily availability of computerized health records, by 2014, for most Americans. Safety, cutting down of costs, and improved quality of patient care were the main reasons for this initiative. This initiative not only demands extensive EMR implementation, but the aptitude of electronic health records to be shared without any difficulty among health care systems, and the establishment of criteria for national interoperability (Brailer, 2005). Through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, President Obama also intends to carry on upgrading and putting up inducements for adoption of EMR.

Discussion

The most constructive constituent of electronic medical records for nurses is their capability to have every fragment of data regarding a patient in one central place. Without the patient having to remember, EMR can make nurses on the ball ...