NURS 217 Health Assessment
Question:
Background:
You are a Systems Analyst that is part of a project that is being currently being proposed. Your task is to develop a Vision Document for this project.
Capabilities
Benefits
Specific analysis techniques have not been taught yet, so this assignment does not require technical descriptions.
Answer:
Introduction
As a mental health intervention, NewAccess has been faced with some critical problems most notably, the inability to capture first time stories for new patients seeking medical treatment from facilities such as Headspace that employ this program. In this light, therefore, this vision document aims to outline the vision of a developed system to rectify this problem. In doing so, the document will fulfill some key objectives including; identifying the problems faced by the users of the intervention program, gather and describe the requests made by patients, propose a solution (alternate system), describe the efficacy of the system, and detail the importance of this system in improving patient outcomes.
System Overview and Features
The newly developed system primarily focuses on utilizing electronic health records to gather and preserve the stories told by first timers in Headspace. Furthermore, complementary sources of data will also be employed in order to capture the full picture of patients’ health status inclusive of elements such as signs and symptoms, and previous diagnoses of mental health problems.
Problems
The main problem that needs to be addressed involves the issue of re-narrating stories. This issue has hampered the treatment plans because, when Headspace patients are required to retell their stories, it often gets cumbersome and instead of providing meaningful information to facilitate the treatment plans, the patients begin to refrain from providing the required information. As such, there is need to design a system where the stories of patients with anxiety and depression are captured vividly and comprehensively during the patients’ first visits. Moreover, the captured information needs to be stored in such a way that they are easily accessible for future inferences by other medical practitioners who will be involved in the treatment plans for these patients.
This new system like many other systems will have a few glitches that may hamper its applications. As evidence reveals, many health systems are subject to fragmentation implying that the pre-recorded health information might be fragmented and may also limit the sharing of health information (Riahi et al, 2017). Additionally, it is also anticipated that there might be cases of inconsistencies in data collection thereby resulting to situations where critical information pertaining to the patients’ health condition is not recorded.
Capabilities
The primary source of data that will be used by the new system will be EHRs. Ideally, by incorporating this aspect in the new system, health professionals at Headspace can be able to maintain a continuum of services for patients diagnosed with anxiety and depression without experiencing inconsistencies in data retrieval. The EHRs will specifically reduce errors and redundancy in patient narratives, use discreet data fields that generate patient reports and summaries, and reduces duplicative narratives as well as facilitate faster patient inquiries (Riahi et al, 2017).
The complementary source of data that will be used in the system will be journals. In this case, diaries will be provided to patients in which, the first time patients at Headspace will be required to record their symptoms and how they felt in regards to their conditions. Precisely, in these journals, patients will detail their experiences, their coping strategies and the time lengths that they have experienced the symptoms of anxiety and depression. These journals will be kept at Headspace so that health professionals can access them whenever they need to obtain information for the first timers. Such information will also be essential since it will be taken as firsthand information that details the patients’ first signs and symptoms. It can also be noted that by allowing patients to write how they feel, it will give them some sought of privacy and security thereby allowing them to comprehensively detail their stories.
Benefits
In light of the aforementioned problems that might face the new systems, some key elements of the system are in line to ensure that these issues are rectified. For instance, the EHR is fully capable of adequately capturing all the information provided during patients’ first visits to the health institutions. As such, this feature allows the system not to miss on any data that may result in patient errors or incomplete information (Riahi et al, 2017). Furthermore, this capability is extended upon through the use of external sources of data or alternatively complementary sources of data.
The journals will allow health professionals to access the medical history of their patients from the patients’ own perspectives and not from another professional. In this way, the professional can connect to the patient on a personal level and therefore eliminate the need to conduct a new interview with the patient. The patients will also benefit from this option since they will not be required to retell their stories every time they encounter a new or different professional at Headspace. In addition, this component of the system promotes patient autonomy and enhances self-care since the patient is put at the forefront of the treatment plan and is subsequently allowed freedom to dictate how they will be treated.
Rationale
Research indicates that the use of electronic health records (EHRs) has significantly improved patient safety and has also enabled health facilities to save on costs. As such, it is expected that the incorporation of this system will not only reduce patient related errors but will also reduce the costs of operations that are specifically incurred in conducting numerous one-on-one sessions with patients (Riahi et al, 2017). Likewise, the preservation of these health records will also ensure that less time is spent in narrating the stories since with the new system, patients need not meet with different health professionals who require them to retell their stories.
As mentioned above, this system is also aligned with patient autonomy and patient-centered care. In such cases, it can be noted that this system does not coerce patients into accepting treatment plans, but rather, it gives patients a choice to willingly decide on the choice of treatment that they feel can be most fruitful. Finally, the use of diaries will enable the patients to re-author their narratives. Patients with mental health issues often experience lost sense of self and as evidence reveals, creating an environment where patients can re-author their life stories is essential in the recovery process (Roe & Davidson, 2008). Hence, this component of the system will allow patients to keep in touch with their social and personal selves in a way that fosters the recovery process.
References
Riahi, S., Fischler, I., Stuckey, M. I., Klassen, P. E., & Chen, J. (2017). The Value of Electronic Medical Record Implementation in Mental Health Care: A Case Study. JMIR Medical Informatics, 5(1). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5247622/
Roe, D., & Davidson, L. (2008). Self and Narrative in Schizophrenia: Time to Author a New Story. BMJ Journals, 31(2), 89-94. Retrieved from https://mh.bmj.com/content/31/2/89.info
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