According to the Journal of Patient Safety more than 300,000 people yearly will enter the hospital never leaving due to preventable medical errors, making medical errors the third leading cause of death (James, 2013). Ineffective communication tools such as written medical records and written prescriptions could be the leading causes of these medical errors. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) estimates that medical errors alone cost the United States over $37 billion each year (2008). The implementation of Electronic health records (EHRs) could greatly reduce the number of medical errors seen in hospitals today as well as decrease the hospitals’ cost for such mistakes.
There is an international consensus that approximately 10% of hospitalized patients suffer from the damages brought about by medical interventions, around half of which are preventable (Flotta, Rizza, Bianco, Pileggi,&Pavia, 2012). ABC News reported that Tesome Sampson was admitted to the hospital. Her doctor ordered strict bed rest and progesterone suppositories to prevent premature later. Mistakenly she administered the drug, Prostin, which is commonly given to expel a fetus due to miscarriage from the womb. Sampson went into labor following the administration of the drug. After four hours of abdominal cramping she gave birth to her daughter in the hospital commode after nurses insisted she only “needed to have a bowel movement.” Sampson was just 5 ½ months pregnant. Unfortunately staff wasn’t able to catch this mistake even though a similar incident happened just a few hours earlier when the same drug was mistakenly given to another pregnant mother who later gave birth to unborn twins (Patel, 2009). Sadly, this type of medical error is too common and...
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2014, from http://cms.hhs.gov/Medicare/E-Health/EHealthRecords/index.html
James, J. (2013, September). A new, evidence-based estimate of patient harms associated with hospital care. Journal of Patient Safety, 9, 122-128. Retrieved May 17, 2014 from http://journals.lww.com/journalpatientsafety/Fulltext/2013/09000/A_New,_Evidence_ based_Estimate_of_Patient_Harms.2.aspx
Patel, A. (2009). Tragic medication error results in accidental abortions and premature birth. ABC
News. Retrieved May 19, 2014, from http://abcnewsgo.com/Blotter/story?id=8383062
Valiee, S., Peyrovi ,H., Nasrabadi, A. (2014). Critical care nurses’ perception of nursing error and its causes: A qualitative study. Contemporary Nurse: A Journal For The Australian
Nursing Profession, 46(2), 206-213. doi:10.571/conu.2014.46.2.206
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
“An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users.” (healthit.gov) The EHR mandate was created “to share information with other health care providers and organizations – such as laboratories, specialists, medical imaging facilities, pharmacies, emergency facilities, and school and workplace clinics – so they contain information from all clinicians involved in a patient’s care.” ("Providers & Professionals | HealthIT.gov", n.d., p. 1) The process has proved to be quite challenging for providers. As an incentive, the government began issuing payments to those providers who “meaningfully use certified electronic health record (EHR) technology.” (hhs.gov) There are three stages that providers must progress through in order to receive theses financial incentives. Stage one is the initial stage and is met with the creation and implementation of the HER in the business. Stage two “increases health information exchange between providers.” ("United States Department of Health and Human Services | HHS.gov", n.d., p. 1) Stage three will be the continuation and expansion of the “meaningful use objectives.” ("United States Department of Health and Human Services | HHS.gov", n.d., p. 1) The hospital, where I work, initiated the HER mandate many years ago. In this paper, I will discuss the progression and the challenges that my hospital encountered while implementing the EHR mandate.
Agyemang, REO, and A While. "Medication errors: types, causes and impact on nursing practice." British Journal of Nursing (BJN) 19.6 (2010): 380-385. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 7 Mar. 2011.
Many hospitals have systems of checks and balances to avoid errors, but what happens when the systems do not work? Today in the United States, medical errors are the fifth-leading cause of death. In 2000, the Institute of Medicine released a study, “To Err is Human”, revealing an estimated 98,000 deaths annually from medical errors. While this figure is assumed to be lower than the actual, each death comes with an inherent cost to the health care system. In today’s terms this figure is underestimated, however the accompanied cost is estimated to be between $17 billion and $29 billion annually. According to Grober and Bohnen (2005), “Medical error can be defined as, “an act of omission or commission in planning or execution that contributes
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.
Over the years, healthcare facilities have acted like a storehouse for patients’ medical records, uninterested and unable to distribute clinical data to anyone beyond their organization. The EHR, started in the 1960s under the name of "computerized-based patient record" (CPR), became known as "electronic medical records" (EMR) in the 1990s and today it is known as electronic health record (EHR).The target of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is to incorporate the EHR and use it in a "meaningful" way to improve the quality, efficiency, and safety of patient care delivery; to engage patients in their personal health record; and to improve care coordination. Equally important, the "meaningful use" of the EHR system intends to build a bridge to other systems by creating an interoperability of health information while implementing quality care throughout. However, this interoperability can only be accomplished when the receiving system and the user fully understand how to apply these exchanges.
EHRs are “a real-time, patient-centered” records that make health information available promptly and bring any patients’ health information together in one place such as medical history, medications, diagnosis, laboratory test results, immunization records, allergies and even medical images, and many others. The use of electronic health records (EHRs) continuously increases. An ability to collect secure patient data electronically, and supplies the information to the providers upon a request is one of the features in EHR. The system can also bring together information from more than one health care organization and any past and current clinical services of the patient that helps the health care professionals in providing quality services. Within this scope, EHR benefits health care providers to enter orders directly into a computerized provider order entry (CPOE) system, provides tools in decision making like, alerts, reminders, and provides access to the new research findings and evidence-based guidelines (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2013, pp. 134-37). The United States is creating large investments to boost the adoption and use of interoperable electronic health records (EHRs)
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH Act), which was passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, has fostered significant progress in the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in various clinical settings, particularly through the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs and its focus on EHR adoption in Stage 1 Meaningful Use (CITATION gov). For instance, as a result of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs, the percentage of office based physicians who have adopted an EHR system dramatically rose from 18.2% in 2001 to a staggering 78.4% in 2013 (CITATION phys data). Additionally, as of July 2013, 67% of hospitals achieved Stage 1 Meaningful Use and an additional 16% were paid for adopting EHRs (CITATION hosp data).
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.
Boaden, R., & Joyce, P. (2006). Developing the electronic health record: What about patient safety? Health Services Management Research, 19 (2), 94-104. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/236465771?accountid=32521
Our goal for the research paper was to think of a topic we found interesting. We had some broad topics and everyone voted on which topic they preferred and ultimately we decided to research about Electronic Health Records. After that, we needed to make it more specific so we narrowed it down to the implementation processes and barriers that arise when implementing electronic health records. We started doing some research and looking for peer reviewed articles and journals, yet we found there was still too much information to choose from so we narrowed it down further to focus merely on electronic health record implementation in hospital settings; therefore, which we could throw out any information on clinics, urgent care facilities and other small practices.
Regardless of efforts to decrease the occurrence of perioperative medication mistakes, however the errors remain an issue. There were examined done on 16 nurses who talked about medication errors in the perioperative environment and 11 other nurses who gave further information about perioperative mistakes, educating nursing staff, within that state. I have learned that the most frequently reported medication error was perioperative medication mistakes. There were other medication errors involved in intraoperative some examples are: medication administration, IV sedation, and "close call" events. Some of the reasons for medication errors are: making pressure, self-satisfaction, and failure to track established procedures. There was lack of
Advances in technology have influences our society at home, work and in our health care. It all started with online banking, atm cards, and availability of children’s grades online, and buying tickets for social outings. There was nothing electronic about going the doctor’s office. Health care cost has been rising and medical errors resulting in loss of life cried for change. As technologies advanced, the process to reduce medical errors and protect important health care information was evolving. In January 2004, President Bush announced in the State of the Union address the plan to launch an electronic health record (EHR) within the next ten years (American Healthtech, 2012).
It is shocking to know that every year 98000 patients die from medical errors that can be prevented(Kohn, L. T., Corrigan, J. M., & Donaldson, M. S. (Eds.), 2000). Medical errors are not a new issue in our healthcare system; these have been around for a long time. Hospitals have been trying to improve quality care and patients safety by implementing different strategies to prevent and reduce medical errors for past thirty years. Medical errors are the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer in America (Allen, 2013). In addition medical errors are costing our healthcare system an estimated $735 billion to $980 billion (Andel, Davidow, Hollander, & Moreno, 2012).