The use of electronic medical records in the reviewed studies.
Of the selected journal articles, four reviewed issues related to the use of an electronic device during the visit. The level of use was reviewed in two of studies which were selected because one dealt with high computer usage and the other with low usage. In the study with high utilization, the physician was observed to be using the computer upwards of 40% of the visit. The time when data entry occurred varied between the two studies. Sometimes the entry was done in the presence of the patient, other times it was done after the patient visit had concluded. In one occurrence, the information gathered by the physician was transcribed by a staff member at the physician’s office. The studies showed that data entry by the physician was seen as a cost saving measure for the physician’s office (Booth, Robinson, Kohannejad, 2004)(Ventres, Kooienga, Marlin, Vuckovic, Stewart, 2005)(Margalit et al, 2006)(Ventres et al, 2006).
One of the included studies found that computers were also used by the physician to manage the pace and direction of the communication during the visit. This was done in several ways. The computer was used by the physician in one of the included studies to break the communication with the patient in order to gather their thoughts about a particular topic (Ventres et al, 2005). In some studies when the use of EMR was extremely new, the computer based system was used to reinforce important points and lend credence to statements (Als, 1997). None of the papers selected for this review had similar findings. This could be because attitudes regarding computer use have changed since the time of this earlier study.
The effects of EMR use on doctor patient communi...
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...g used as a tool for the physician to communicate with their patient instead of as a device to create distance between them (Ventres et al, 2006)(Frankel et al, 2005). A surprising finding is that physicians surveyed about EMR use did not feel that patient doctor communication would be effected by the use of mobile computing options to display EMR instead of desktop computers (Ventres et al, 2006)(Frankel et al, 2005)(Bullard, Meurer, Colman, Holroyd, Rowe, 2004).
Physicians who used the electronic medical record as a checklist and verified the information with the patient as they recorded it were more likely to be thought of as good communicators by their patients. One of the reviewed articles described the development of a transcription methodology to enable the most efficient use of time with the patient by the physician (Gibson, Jenkings, Wilson, Purves, 2005).
Over the last several years, electronic medical records are becoming more prominent in health care facilities, replacing traditional written records. As many electronics are becoming more prevalent with the invention of numerous smartphones and tablet devices, it seems that making medical records available electronically would be appropriate for the evolving times. Even though they have been in use to some extent for many years, the “Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health section of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has brought paperless documentation into the spotlight” (Eisenberg, 2010, p. 8). The systems of electronic medical records mainly consist of clinical note taking, prescription and medication documentation,
For years now, the healthcare system in the United States have managed patient’s health records through paper charting, this has since changed for the better with the introduction of an electronic medical record (EMR) system. This type of system has helped healthcare providers, hospitals and other ambulatory institutions extract data from a patient’s chart to help expedite clinical diagnosis and providing necessary care. Although this form of technology shows great promise, studies have shown that this system is just a foundation to the next evolution of health technology. The transformation of EMR to electronic heath record system (EHR) is the ultimate goal of the federal government.
Montague and Asan (2013) did a field study where 100 patients’ ages 18 through 65 were observed and video recorded during their visit in a primary health clinic. The researchers wanted to see how much communication and eye contact the physicians would do with their patients when using paper charting compared to using computer charting in the EHR. The results of the study showed that physicians paid more attention to the EHR on the computer then they did their actual patients 46.5% of the time and 79% when they used paper charting (Montague & Asan, 2013). The studies showed that EHRs could hinder communication between patients and their
The purpose of this paper is to discuss how Electronic Medical Records (EMR), affects healthcare delivery. I will discuss the positives and negatives this issue has on healthcare and how it effects the cost and quality for healthcare services. In addition, I will identify any potential trade-offs to cost or quality. Lastly, I will discuss how the EMR affects my job as well as any challenges or opportunities this issue presents.
Lohr, Steve. “Most Doctors Aren’t Using Electronic Health Records.” New York Times. New York Times, 19 June 2008. Web. 13 Nov. 2011.
This article addresses major aspects such as clinical trial, integrated decision support and guidance, inadequacy of paper record, and data entry. The reason that paper records are not a match for modern medicine is that they are not accessible buy multiple health professionals causing a delay in response to health care, confidentiality and security is a risk granted that anyone could physically change the record and it would become official. The author of this article predicted the basic electronic medical record features that are available today, back in 1999 and the features include integrated clinical workstations with the computational power that can assist with clinical matters, financial and administrative topics, research, and scholarly information. This report indicates that having electronic records can provide efficiency throughout the system of health care for instance the example presented in this article was the process of admission, discharge and transfer of a patient can be changed drastically due to it initially taking hours to going from in and out in minutes. This article will provide the foundation of EMR’s and how time for reform had come more than a decade ago and it’s time for reform once again. With the examples and strategic tactics provided, it is fairly simple to display the evolution of Electronic medical records from
This paper will identify the use of Electronic Health Records and how nursing plays an important role. Emerging in the early 2000’s, utilizing Electronic Health Records have quickly become a part of normal practice. An EHR could help prevent dangerous medical mistakes, decrease in medical costs, and an overall improvement in medical care. Patients are often taking multiple medications, forget to mention important procedures/diagnoses to providers, and at times fail to follow up with providers. Maintaining an EHR could help tack data, identify patients who are due for preventative screenings and visits, monitor VS, & improve overall quality of care in a practice. Nurse informaticists play an important role in the adaptation, utilization, and functionality of an EHR. The impact the EHR could have on a general population is invaluable; therefore, it needs special attention from a trained professional.
EMRs provide a common access point where clinicians and health care providers can review and document information about clients and their care. These records are essential to improving efficiency and increasing client safety (Electronic Medical Records, n.d.). Electronic reports are an enabling technology that allows medical practices to pursue more powerful quality improvement programs than is possible with paper-based records (Miller, Robert; Sim, Ida). Clinicians and clients do not have to worry about errors occurring due to the poor legibility of handwritten paper medical records. EMRs facilitate the continuity of care before, during and after hospitalization because all the data in one place. Think of the amount of time and money employees spend on phone calls, emails, and faxes ...
Early computer-based systems were intended to replace the paper-based record, and were designed to collect, store, organize, and retrieve data related to a patients care. The goal that was set by these early systems, were to provide an increased quality of patient care, which is the same goal as todays EHR (Englebardt, Nelson, 2002).
Abstract-This paper aimed to inform the readers to provide the concept of health information technology, mainly concentrated on electronic health records (EHR) and how it benefits overall quality of health services. Even though EHRs are widely accepted and have been adopted increasingly, patient engagement still lower than the average expected. Reasons are discussed why patient engagement has been low while the adoption of EHRs increases. The paper draws some research findings and provides examples to illustrate how patient disengagement affect the quality of care. It also discusses what appreciable tasks have done among
The health industry has existed ever since doctors bartered for chickens to pay for their services. Computers on the other hand, in their modern form have only existed since the 1940s. So when did technology become a part of health care? The first electronic health record(EHR) programs were created in the 1960s around the same time the Kennedy administration started exploring the validity of such products (Neal, 2013). Between the 1960s and the current administration, there were little to no advancements in the area of EHR despite monumental advancements in software and hardware that are available. While some technology more directly related to care, such as digital radiology, have made strides medical record programs and practice management programs have gained little traction. Physicians have not had a reason or need for complicated, expensive health record suites. This all changed with the introduction of the Meaningful Use program introduced in 2011. Meaningful use is designed to encourage and eventually force the usage of EHR programs. In addition, it mandates basic requirements for EHR software manufactures that which have become fragmented in function and form. The result was in 2001 18 percent of offices used EHR as of 2013 78 percent are using EHR (Chun-Ju Hsiao, 2014). Now that you are caught up on some of the technology in health care let us discuss some major topics that have come up due to recent changes. First, what antiquated technologies is health care are still using, what new tech are they exploring, and then what security problems are we opening up and what is this all costing.
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.
The purpose of the Electronic Health Record is to provide a comprehensive, standardized and universal digital version of a patient 's health records. The availability of a patient 's digital health record provides health information and data for critical thinking and evidence based decision-making, aggregates patient data for quality assurance and research. The Electronic Health Record has been, "identified as a strategy for effectively and efficiently coordinating and maintaining documentation of patients health histories and as a secure method of providing more informed clinical decision making" (MNA, 2006).
Mandl, Kenneth, MD., Kohane, Isaac, MD., Brandt, Allan, MD. (1998). “Electronic Patient – Physician Communication: Problems and Promise”. Annals of Internal Medicine, 129, 495 – 500.
Ragavan, V. (2012, August 27). Medical Records Pals Malaysia : 17 Posibble Reasons How Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Might Support Day-to-Day Patient Care. Retrieved from Medical Records Pals Malaysia: http://mrpalsmy.wordpress.com/category/emr/