NURSP 2085 Nursing Informatics

Answer

Nursing Informatics

Electronic Health Records

Electronic health records may be referred to as computerized medical information systems that are used to collect, display and store all information regarding a patient. There are several positive effects of using EHRs in the healthcare setting but the rate of adoption of these systems is still not high enough and in some instances, they meet resistance from patients (Kohane, 2011). They represent one of the most essential tools for improving the quality of care and patient safety. However, this may only be realized if the health practitioners can use these systems more frequently to enjoy their benefits. It has been widely reported that a widespread use of EHRs could also lead to a reduction in the cost of providing ambulatory services (Romano & Stafford, 2011). It is, however, important to note that these systems are not usually user-friendly are there are some considerable barriers to their adoption.

One of the barriers to the adoption of this system is that it may be time-consuming to train how to use an EHR. In fact, reports have suggested that most physicians, even though they needed this system, they in most cases lacked the time to learn new features of the system and participate in further training (Ajami & Bagheri-Tadi, 2013). Additionally, there was this aspect of an extremely high upfront financial cost that was required to implement the EHR systems. This high initial cost put off the physicians thus being a barrier in their implementation.

Another barrier which further stressed the fact that the use of electronic health records is not always user-friendly was the fact that it needed the possession of computer skills. It is, however, important to note that some physicians lacked these skills (Ajami & Bagheri-Tadi, 2013). These skills include listening to the complaints of the patient and assessing the medical relevance. The providers have made the mistake of undermining the complexity of this system and how it can be difficult for use by the physicians.

Another obstacle which strengthens the argument that EHR is not user-friendly is that it causes a workflow disruption. This is because the physicians sometimes fail to set aside some quality time to properly familiarize themselves with this system. The familiarity required may sometimes not be found in the most adept users of a computer (Ajami & Bagheri-Tadi, 2013). This lack of familiarity with the electronic health record system may cause disruptions in the workflow within a healthcare organization. 

There are also concerns regarding security and privacy that are associated with the use of electronic health record settings. There are additional concerns regarding confidentiality, security, and privacy of patient information that are computerized (Fernández-Alemán, Señor, Lozoya & Toval, 2013). Additionally, there is a lack of incentives with the use of EHR. The implementation of this system could be increased by offering financial rewards to enhance quality improvement. It is further important to note that the use of this system interferes with the patient-doctor relationship.  There are sometimes problems in interaction between the doctor and the patient during the use of electronic health records.  Interpersonal communication is thus affected thus lowering the quality of health. Other barriers that show that this system is not user-friendly may include cluttered workspace and lack of enough rooms for usage by the computers.

References

Ajami, S., & Bagheri-Tadi, T. (2013). Barriers to adopting electronic health records (EHRs) by physicians. Acta Informatica Medica, 21(2), 129.

Fernández-Alemán, J. L., Señor, I. C., Lozoya, P. Á. O., & Toval, A. (2013). Security and privacy in electronic health records: A systematic literature review. Journal of biomedical informatics, 46(3), 541-562.

Kohane, I. S. (2011). Using electronic health records to drive discovery in disease genomics. Nature Reviews Genetics, 12(6), 417.

Romano, M. J., & Stafford, R. S. (2011). Electronic health records and clinical decision support systems: impact on national ambulatory care quality. Archives of internal medicine, 171(10), 897-903.