Electronic Health Records Pros And Cons Essay

1024 Words3 Pages

The Pros and Cons of Electronic Health Records
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 …show more content…

This technology assist the nurse in confirming patients identify by confirming the patients’ dose, time and form of medication (Helmons, Wargel, & Daniels, 2009). Having an EHR also comes with a program that allows the medical staff to scan medications so medication errors can be prevented. According to Helmons, Wargel, and Daniels (2009) they conducted an observational study in two medical –surgical units one in the medical intensive care (ICU) and one in the surgical ICU. The researchers watched 386 nurses within the two hospitals use bar code scanning before they administrated patients’ medications. The results of the research found a 58 % decrease in medication errors between the two hospitals because of the EHR containing a bar code assisted medication administration …show more content…

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

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