Disaster planning with regards to electronic health records (EHR) is absolute crucial to the operations of the health care industry. EHRs are highly sensitive information that must be stored securely and protected at all times from breach attempts and malicious attacks. Disaster planning against virtual malfunctions are the same as disaster planning against natural catastrophes, it serves as a recovery plan to, in the case of EHRs, maintain the integrity of the EHRs and restore availability of data in a timely fashion. Natural disasters such as black outs, earthquakes, hurricanes, can also cause outage of data access. Why do we want to allocate resources into protecting our data when we can store them on paper and avoid the problem …show more content…
Regardless of the format, the purpose is the same, to provide critical information to support the medical decision making process, evaluation of health care services, research and education, and most definitely a regulatory requirement. The health care industry is moving towards the adoption of EHRs, where information are stored electronically for better accessibility. The development of technology has been inventing and upgrading various types of health record systems. Let us examine the evolution of health records to have a better understanding on the overall process. In the past, health records were physically on paper, and only access to those in the vicinity. They were not used by patients due to this drawback, and it is important for a patient to understand his own records. Today, more and more institutions are storing their information electronically as EHRs, which made the information available to all with legal rights to access this information whenever and …show more content…
Furthermore, the plan would also lay out the process of how EHRs are protected during the emergency state. As mentioned earlier, offsite servers are one way to store data and serve as back up. These data replication can be done periodically, where back up storage server would automatically or manually synchronize the data with onsite server. This can be done daily or weekly, also possible on shorter intervals such as every 12 hours. It allows the backup server to hold the latest data almost at all times. Data can also be stored to removable media and devices, which are also taken periodically to minimize outdated data. However, simply having a location for data is not a complete plan, it requires much
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.
Historically, physicians and nurses documented patients’ health information using paper and pencil. This documentation created numerous errors in patients’ medical records. Patient information became lost or destroyed, medication errors occur daily because of illegible handwriting, and patients had to wait long periods to have access to their medical records. Since then technology has changed the way nurses and health care providers care for their patients. Documentation of patient care has moved to an electronic heath care system in which facilities around the world implement electronic health care systems. Electronic health records (EHR) is defined as a longitudinal electronic record of
To begin, there are numerous advantages throughout the EHR system. Considering this, enhancing patient safety is priority in the healthcare industry. Reminders, alerts, and pop-ups are just a few of the safety features an EHR can provide. These items can prevent medication errors, by alerting a nurse or physician of a blood sugar that is out of range, or a medication with too high of a potency, such as a wrong dosage amount. Reminders can be as simple as an immunization reminder to get a flu shot. Another example could be a drug interaction between NSAIDS such as i...
Portability can improve patient care. Patients no longer have to “tote” their cumbersome medical records around anymore. EHR’s give physicians and clinicians access to critical healthcare information in the palm of their hand, which ultimately leads to improved patient care outcomes. EHR’s also provide security to vital medical and personal healthcare information. Organizations like HIPPA defines policies, procedures and guidelines for preserving the privacy and security of discrete distinguishable health information (HHS.gov,
"FAQ: Disaster Recovery Planning for Health Care Data." SearchHealthIT. Ed. Anne Steciw. TechTarget, May 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2014. .
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.
The main purpose of EHRs is to mainly exchange health information electronically to help improve quality and safety for patients. Four pros of EHRs is to provide accurate and recent information of the patients, allow for quick access to the patient records, share the health information securely, and make patient records and notes legible. These four points are important and necessary because the goal overall is to improve public health. Patient information should always be updated and current. Health professionals need to easily have access to patient records to either update them or verify the information. Also, health professionals can now avoid any discrepancies with electronic records verses when records were completely on paper.
As a current student at Akron General Medical Center we are allowed access to their EHR, McKesson. However, before logging into their system or even stepping foot on the floor the importance of patient information and keeping it c...
...will benefit the patient as well as the treating organization of care. The patients benefit with the confidence, comfort and security of competent, continuous care. The treating organization will benefit by not having to worry about missing information to the puzzle of person and their healthcare. Therefore the choice of electronic medical records versus paper medical records becomes evident: electronic medical records make health care more efficient and less expensive while improving the quality of care by making patients’ medical history easily accessible to all who treat them. Electronic medical records ensures patients that they are receiving competent care while establishing and maintaining optimal health and best possible quality of life, living with a medical condition, illness and/or diagnosis, with everyone involved informed of any and all changes in care.
regarding their health status. Many of these resources offer convenience in that they are available to patients on a 24/7 basis. The objective is to engage the level of communications between the patient and medical staff. Through various case studies and research, it has been shown that many patients often feel overwhelmed with the access to their personal medical records. Other barriers to this advance in technology include patient safety concerns, and a general lack of understanding of the information that is presented to the patient.
The federal government has encouraged EHR use in hopes that it will significantly improve patient care. There is the intent that electronic health records will allow any provider access to important patient health information no matter where the patient is, while “creating a comprehensive national electronic health information network that leads to a reduction in the duplication of tests, an improvement in the cost-effectiveness of interventions, and the ability to compile a comprehensive patient history” (McBride, Delaney, Tietze, 2012). While the implementation of EHR’s has good intent, an important question is, “How are the implementation of EHRs having an effect on emergency nursing and patient care?”
Systems are built on peculiar challenges. In the health care system, one hospital’s local needs differ from others and so the setting of the system may not suit all hospitals if the default setting does not meet the demands of the current condition in the hospital in question. The EHR system is not free of challenges as unintended
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).
Most health care providers currently utilize electronic health records (EHRs), or will in the coming future. Network collapses, glitches, power outages and flaws within the system all have the possibility of occurring. Due to the plethora of sensitive information contained within the health care field, health care providers need to form backup plans. These backup plans will serve as preventative measures in order to keep the integrity of the health care data intact. Therefore, contingency plans are a clear necessity within the field.