Electronic Health Record (EHR) System: Ethical Issues and Nurse's Informatics Role
New health care innovations offer the advanced registered nurse an opportunity to apply emerging technologies in practice to improve quality and patient outcomes. For this assignment, research an emerging health care technology that you think has the potential to overcome current or emerging barriers to care.
Write a 500-750 word brief. Include the following:
Provide an overview of the emerging technology and its role/function in health care. Consider its potential for improving access to care and promoting patient safety and quality.
Describe ethical or legal issues that would accompany the incorporation of the technology.
Explain the nurse's informatics role in regard to the technology. Provide examples of the roles and job functions.
Outline the role of workflow analysis, human factors, and user-centered design concepts for your chosen technology example.
You are required to cite three to five sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.
Emerging Technology Brief
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Overview of the Emerging Technology
Recent technological advancements in healthcare have positively transformed the healthcare industry. They have revolutionized the quality of treatment and improved patient outcomes in every organization. One such technology is Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. It refers to a computer system that helps nurses manage patient medical records and automate clinical workflows electronically (Baumann et al., 2018). It is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart that has restrained the paperwork, eliminated manual medical records, and annulled the tedium of filling out patient charts (Baumann et al., 2018). Most importantly, EHR systems have helped physicians reduce medical errors.
This technology enables easy and instant sharing of patient records, thus, improving communication and quality of care since it avails patient’s complete health information to nurses and other healthcare providers. This promotes earlier diagnosis and treatment. A study done by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reported that EHR systems could automate manual tasks, improve communication among caregivers, and streamline documentation (Ozair et al., 2017). They can also improve the quality of care and boost safety by minimizing the risk of clinical errors and allowing automated alerts to prevent possible errors or allergic reactions when physicians prescribe a new medication (Baumann et al., 2018). Identifying such problems in the paper system can be problematic and time-consuming.
Ethical Issues
The ethical issues surrounding EHR systems include privacy, confidentiality, and security breaches. When physicians share patient’s health information without the patient’s knowledge, they jeopardize autonomy (Ozair et al., 2017). As noted, the EHR system allows nurses to share patient data with other healthcare professionals without the patient’s knowledge. This violates the principle of autonomy and the patient’s right to privacy. EHR system also risks revealing thousands of patients’ health data through mistakes or theft (McBride et al., 2018). This breaches fidelity and reduces the patient’s confidence in the system’s security. Finally, regardless of the security vulnerability of EHR, patients may still conceal sensitive information, hence, compromising their treatment....