Electronic health record (EHR) is an information resource that allows both doctors and patients to have constant access to treatment history. The critical aspect of implementing EHRs is Meaningful Use, characterized by the meaningful electronic exchange of health information to improve healthcare quality (Chin & Sakuda, 2012). Using EHRs allows doctors in real-time to see the patient’s medical history and test results. Meaningful Use of data from EHRs contributes to the process as medical personnel can assess the dynamics of treatment and correct it if needed. It takes less time to fill out an EHR than a paper medical record, and specialists can devote the saved minutes to patients (Chin & Sakuda, 2012). For example, doctors see data on chronic conditions and other vital metrics they need to know to provide medical care (Chin & Sakuda, 2012). Benefits also include the decline in health care costs and an increase in administrative efficiencies.
There is a direct link between data collection gathered from EHRs and patient care. Patient retention depends on how they are treated during their visit (Finkelman & Kenner, 2019). Both administrators and doctors are overworked, so the main task of the EHRs is to unload them and optimize the workflow. The more information about a patient is entered, collected, and processed, the higher the quality of service for the clinic will be (Chin & Sakuda, 2012). EHRs enable medical specialists to analyze data and automatically pull it into various statistical or medical reports (Chin & Sakuda, 2012). In my nursing practice, EHRs are used in acquiring the needed information about a patient’s condition in a short amount of time. For example, the benefits are getting data on chronic diseases and metrics before prescribing some medicines. The negative impact is technical issues related to information system malfunctions and prolonged time of launching some programs.
References
Chin, B. J., & Sakuda, C. M. I. (2012). Transforming and improving health care through meaningful use of health information technology. Hawai’i Journal of Medicine & Public Health, 71(4 Suppl 1), 50-55.
Finkelman, A., & Kenner, C. (2019). Professional nursing concepts: Competencies for quality leadership (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Publishers.