Electronic Health Record System Management Essay Paper

Electronic Health Record System
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Electronic Health Record System
Electronic health record (EHR) systems can be defined as a digitalized patient's record chart. EHRs are electronic records containing information on the health of a particular patient derived from the encounter of care delivery in a hospital or health care setting. Details in this patient's information include medical history, patient’s progress, medicine administered, immunizations, vital signs, past diseases, reports from radiology, and data from laboratory tests. EHR systems are implemented to enable the sharing of information between medical organizations and health care physicians. EHR systems are also designed to accurately store information and capture the patient’s state thus, eliminating the physician’s need to track past medical reports of a particular patient due to the availability of legible information in the EHRs. This essay aims at discussing the Electronic health record system, its acquisition, implementation, standards, policies, and the benefits and barriers of the EHR implementation. The significant types of electronic health record systems are classified into two that is a cloud-based EHRs and server-based EHR systems. Server-based EHRs are also known as on-premise and refer to storing of information in servers owned by the physician who is solely responsible for data backup, maintenance, and security. Cloud-based servers are remotely hosted and involve a third party who is the vendor and stores the medical information on the internet. As the Director of health information technology in Trident hospital, I would recommend the hospital implement a cloud-based EHR system because it is simpler to implement (Henry, Pylypchuk, Searcy, & Patel, 2016). After all, it is cheaper than server-based, and software or hardware installation is not required.
Features Of Electronic Health Record Systems
Electronic health record (EHR) systems may have several potential abilities. Still, only three main functionalities can improve quality care and reduce the costs involving health care systems. These functionalities include "clinical decision support systems, computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems, and health information exchange (HIE)." A Clinical Decision Support system can be defined as a feature of EHRs that assists in decision making regarding patient care. Functions of a Clinical Decision Support system include counterchecking if a particular patient is allergic to any kind of medicine and giving the most recent information concerning specific drugs. Further, it shows how drugs administered to a patient are interacting and any other potential issues that a patient may encounter, which in most cases are raised by the monitoring computer. As knowledge in the medical sector continues to grow, the functionalities above provide a way for medical care to be administered in an effective, efficient, and safer manner (Henry, Pylypchuk, Searcy, & Patel, 2016). As healthcare and medical settings continue to use more CDS systems, many medical errors are avoided; thus, patients will be given the best and safest health care services. This will generally lead to an improvement in the provision of medical care in medical facilities.
Computerized Provider Order Entry systems allow physicians to insert orders, for example, laws about laboratory tests, drugs, physical therapy, and radiology in a computer instead of writing on paper. Medical records are stored in the form of soft copies and not hard copies. Computerization or digitalization of medical records by the CPOE process ensures potential medical errors that may be dangerous are eliminated. These errors are mostly brought about by physicians’ poor penmanship. CPOE system also facilitates the efficiency of the particular ordering process by staff members in the pharmacy and nursing departments because the entry of orders ensures there is no missing information or orders that are not complete. According to Previous research medical severe errors can be avoided or reduced by an estimate of 55% when the Clinical Provider Order Entry system is implemented on its own, and by approximately 83% when integrated with the Clinical Decision Support system that is capable of alerting physicians about their orders (Henry, Pylypchuk, Searcy, & Patel, 2016). Using a CPOE together with the CDS system can lead to improved effectiveness and efficiency of medical care.
Acquisition and Implementation Of Cloud-Based EHRs
Acquisition of a cloud-based EHRs is more straightforward and more uncomplicated because the medical providers only require finding a trustworthy vendor who will store the clinical data in the clouds at a fee (Coustasse, Andresen, Schussler, Sowards, & Kimble. 2018). The medical practitioners do not need to install software or hardware components to store data. The servers used are the vendors who are responsible for maintenance, security, and efficiency. The implementation process, on the other hand, requires several steps to ensure the EHRs implemented are practical and successful. The first step is to understand and take inventory of the assets involved. This means that the physicians need to understand the current health IT environment to launch a new EHRs successfully. The second is to understand the EMR needs of the health care facility to ensure that the stem implemented does not fall short of their expectations. The third step is to assess the security of the EHRs to be applied to ensure it protects the medical information of patients. The fourth step involves training users on how it functions and how to maintain the security of data. Training employees is essential because they will have a better understanding of how their deeds may affect the system. The last implementation step involves maintenance and checking for system updates. To ensure medical organizations operate effectively, they should always update their policies and keep up with the rapidly changing healthcare environment.
Standards and Policies of Electronic Health Record Systems
The word standard has a deep meaning concerning health information technology. It may seem like it deals only with technical requirements involved in hardware installation and maintenance (Jamoom, Y...