Statistics Research: Electronic Medical Record System (EMR)

Electronic Medical Record System (EMR)
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Electronic Medical Record System (EMR)
The present essay henceforth discusses the application of EMRs in healthcare system elaborating on the literature review in part A and potential implementation of EMRs in the healthcare system.
* LITERATURE REVIEW ON IMPLEMENTATION OF EMRS
Implementation of Electronic Medical Record System (EMRs) in hospitals is essential. However, successful implementation of such systems comes with challenges. Different hospital setups implement EMRs in varied capacities with the majority of such premises applying it on full automation for efficiency, safety, and improvement of workflow among others. The current literature review uses the term "electronic medical record system" throughout the paper to review a range of EMRs users such as physicians, nurses, healthcare providers, chiropodists and clinicians among others. Implementation of EMRs henceforth helps in safe storage of records as well as enhancement of quality of healthcare delivery through collaboration since all the members need information when providing care to reduce errors as well as enhance recovery of patients.
Electronic Medical Records System (EMR) is a system that stores electronic records of health-related information of patients. The healthcare practitioners develop, gather, manage and consult to get the relevant information within a given healthcare organization (Chen, Lorenzi, Sandberg, Wolgast & Malin, 2017). The EMRs safely stores information detailing on diagnoses, medical history, medications, allergies and immunization date among others. Thus, it facilitates the workflow as well as improves the quality of healthcare delivery and safety of the patients.
According to Williams & Boren (2008) on the role of EMRs in care delivery, most of the hospitals’ managements appreciate the benefits of EMRs especially on its transformation on medical care practice. The authors affirmed that about nine articles highlighted the benefits such as enhancement of healthcare delivery, facilitation of decision making processes, ensuring accurate medical lists and prescriptions among others (Williams & Boren, 2008).
Contrary to the benefits of implementation of the EMRs, other researchers noted challenges especially in various hospitals in USA. Therefore, a baseline assessment is necessary. For instance, a research conducted by Poon, Jha, Christino, Honour, Fernandopulle, Middleton, &Kaushal (2006) in the evaluation of the HIT implementation in the USA compared the functionality of EMRs and financial benefits. The financial gain exceeded the approval of those with quality and safety advantages. However, there is a limitation in adoption especially in the ambulatory electronic health records and physician-patient communication due to financial challenges. The authors concluded that approval of EMRs is still slow and needs financial resources together with a change in policy especially on financial incentives to physicians to use the EMRs and pay-for-performance reimbursement to defray upfront investment costs and loss of productivity (Poon et al. 2006).
Indeed, healthcare system still lags behind in the implementation of the HIT especially the EMRs. Other industrial sectors such as financial and computer industries currently perform better than the health sector due to well-developed uniform standards for ordering parts, data management and interchange of information. The laxity exhibited in the healthcare system results in lack of data standards hence making it difficult to manage information. Besides, hospitals find it costly to invest in EMRs as there is lack of interoperability between varied data sources. Such challenges negatively affect the workflow and productivity in the healthcare system hence result in nurse resistance in the adoption of EMRs (Poon, Blumenthal, Jaggi, Honour, Bates, &Kaushal, 2003).
Lastly, Rizer, Sieck, Lehman, Hefner, Huerta, &McAlearney (2017) on their research about working with EMRs in Ambulatory Care noted that it is necessary to consult with different hospitals that have successfully implemented the EMRs to explore all its advantages and pitfalls to understand the system successfully. The farther attested that the EMRs usage work well in ambulatory care sections while other sections of hospital exhibit minimal implementation due to inadequate trained personnel, costs among others (Rizer, et al. 2017).
* IMPLEMENTATION OF HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (HIT)
* NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Implementation of EMRs requires a proper assessment of establishment or roles and accountability for every step on the project ensuring a consensus of goals of its application, evaluation of the readiness of the staff. The following assessment steps will be relevant to the implementation of EMRs.
The first step for assessment is the establishment of the objectives. One factor in EMRs establishment is time. Elimination of time wastages is essential hence there should be clarity from the top management on the aim that the hospital wants to achieve with EMRs. For example, some facilities need to practice full automation of the workflow, connect seamlessly with all the departments and integrate the billing system. When such enterprises apply EMR, they can ensure quick and efficient workflow and provide safe storage of information (Rizer, Sieck, Lehman, Hefner, Huerta &McAlearney, 2017).
The second step is a need to assess the current situation at the healthcare enterprise. The management of healthcare system in need to implement the EMRs needs to find out the best system that works for the existing assets and documents. For example, when the healthcare system needs new computers or software, it has to gather all the information regarding the current assets. Separately, an enterprise with staffs who have limited experience on the EMRs needs to conduct training for the teams so that the team can deliver quality work and safely keep the records of patients and any information for the facility(Rizer et al., 2017).
Thirdly, it is essential to identify the appropriate leadership of the EMRs and the protocol of the project. The administration should emphasize communicating the reason and objectives for the EMRs implementation as well as show their full commitment to ensure success. The leader should drive clinicians to get involved and encourage the staffs to accept the essential changes for full implementation of EMRs to provide smooth workflow (Bates, Ebell, Gotlieb, Zapp & Mullins 2003).
Next, the management should define the activities that the EMRs should do. After clarifying the overall objective s and current situation, the administration needs to specify specific requirements in details to ensure that it becomes easier for implementation. For example, the step helps in the identification of goals and specifications of the EMRs and provides practices and preparation for the RFP to permit the objectives. Such measures will assist in the minimization of the costs associated with changes needed during the implementation (Rizer et al., 2017).
After defining the activities, the management needs to compare the products and support. The vendors of EMRs usually come up with different systems to examine the outcomes of the demonstrations enable the administration to choose the best method that is affordable. Comparison of such products ensures proper evaluation especially on its functionality concerning meeting the anticipated objectives as well as providing that the system or product come with the essential tools, linkages and processes (Bates et al., 2003).
The sixth step is an estimation of costs and benefits of the EMRs for the healthcare enterprise. The right EMRs practice comes down to the balance between its functionality, values, and ease of use. However, before choosing the system, the management should understand the full cost as well as the anticipated benefits of the system. Besides, the management should negotiate, purchase and install the system. The administration should understand what if questions as well as ensure that the right personnel is available for training and the duration they take on site as well as the appropriate support that the staff will provide (Bates et al., 2003).
Next, the management should provide training for proficiency or liaise with the vendor to offer a training program to support the system. Smooth implementation of EMRs that improves workflow and safe record keeping needs trained personnel. The training should focus on helping the specific practice, processes in place and the role of each person in the enterprise as well as the provision of manual during the training process. After training and installation of the EMRs, the management should conduct the measurement. During the measurement process, the management should make time, effort and invest in the EMRs to ensure its adoption throughout the healthcare enterprise. Lastly, the administration should adequately document the meaningful use of the EMRs (Bates et al., 2003).
* Formulation of Research Question about Implementation of EMRs in Healthcare System
Planning on research regarding the implementation of EMRs especially formulation of the right questions to provide scientific evidence about its function is essential. The aim of the study on the implementation of EMR should guide the questions for investigation concerning the study design in place (Fatehi, Smith, Maeder, Wade & Gray, 2017).
Formulating research question on the execution needs a focus on concept development, service design, implementation and post-implementation (Fatehi et al.2017). For example, what are the benefits of EMRs in the healthcare system?
* Development of Hypothesis on the Effects of Implementation of EMRs
Development of hypothesis on the effects of implementing EMRs needs preliminary information on the understanding of the principles and science involved in the proposed topic. As a result, it is essential to refer to various research articles or journals regarding the information on EMRs implementation that prompt an educated guess. Information on outside journals, books, and articles result in the development of testable hypothesis (Sekaran & Bougie, 2016). The implementers of EMRs should conduct information search then follow a three-step hypothesis to narrow down to the first hypothesis. However, the experts need to establish measurable variables in the prediction coupled with designing an experiment to show what he or she will do with the assumption (Sekaran & Bougie, 2016). For example, Electronic medical records (EMR) improve workflow and efficiency in the healthcare system.
* Purpose of Using Outside Research on the Implementation of EMRs
The use of outside research on the implementation...