Electronic Health Records: Benefits for Health Care Providers - Research Paper Example

Affiliation This paper is an exploratory research that aims to determine the benefits of the implementation of the Electronic Health Records to both the patients and the providers. The paper provides an introduction of the technology and its background. The paper gives a review of literature relating to EHRs . The results show that the EHRs have great benefits such as improved quality and convenience of patient care, Improved Patient participation and Improved Diagnostics and patient outcomes. The research indicates 94 % of providers reporting improved availability of information at the point of care, 88% reporting improved clinical benefits while 75% reporting that EHRs allows them to deliver better patient care. The paper finally provides a conclusion and summary of how the adoption of EHRs can be enhanced. How Electronic Health Records (EHR) benefit patients and health care providers Introduction Our current society is so far a technology advanced society that is characterized by sophisticated computing technologies ever. This society has need radically transformed by the ever evolving digital technology. Majority of us use these devices daily which include web enabled devices, tablets, smartphones which have greatly transformed the way we communicate and interact on a daily basis. Additionally, technologies such as social-networking, mobile computing and cloud computing have enhanced the way we interact in the current society. The medical field is a very information rich field that greatly requires a steady, reliable flow to allow effective participation and service delivery. This flow of information is enabled by information systems and automation of the process in health care facilities. This makes the really needed information available whenever and wherever it is needed. The key to effective service delivery in many crucial sectors in the economy is currently dependent on the automation of the processes in these sectors. The health care provision is a vital sector in the economy that must be automated to effectively provide health care services. Health care facilities have been adopting automation and using information systems in the recent past. These systems are used for different purposes in these facilities given the diverse nature of the health facilities. Some of these systems include the Electronic Health Records systems. Literature Review What is Electronic health Records? An electronic Health Record is defined as a digital version of the manual patient card, sheet or chart. The Electronic Heath Records are patient centered records that are real time and make availability of information to authorized users instant and timely. The use of these records has greatly improved service provision in health care facilities particularly in developed countries such as the USA. The (EHR) contains history of the medical treatment of patients, additionally; the system is designed to have a broader scope of patient management and care. Essentially, the system is designed to: Have patients’ medical history, diagnosis, treatment plans, medications, allergies, immunization dates, and radiology images lab test results among others. It is also designed to allow access to evidence based tools which providers use for decision making on patients care and management. The system also enhances streamlines and automates health service provider workflow. The major key feature of this system is the ability to create and manage patient health records by authorized providers in a digital format. This format enables the information to be shared with other providers across several health care organizations (HealthIT, 2014). The system also contained all the information about patients care. Background of Electronic Health Records The US institute of medicine recommended the implementation of Electronic health Records systems in health care providing facilities in 1991. However, after 20 years only a small portion of the health care providers have implemented Electronic Health records (Jeremy & David, 2010). Additionally, a study on the diffusion rates of the EHRs in the United States has shown that the uptake of these systems has slowed down in the recent past. Despite this setback, it is worth noting that EHRs are the future of medical health records management and no amount of resistance and uncertainties will prevent its adoption. In essence, the adoption of this technology is inevitable (Jeremy & David, 2010). Methodology Exploration of the existing literature and review of these literature materials was used to obtain the data for the research. This was attained by reviewing online materials related to the benefits of the adoption and implementation of the Electronic Health Records to the service providers and patients. Several websites and articles were reviewed to gain an insight into what is EHRs and the benefits accrued to this technology. Presentation and analysis of Data Benefits of Electronic Health Records There has been evidence of the benefits to both patients and the health care providers from the Electronic Health Records experienced over the years since its streamlined adoption in the health care facilities. In 2008 a comprehensive analysis and systematic overview of the health care facilities literature indicated that the EHRs adoption in health care facilities resulted in benefits including; Improved legibility for patients and health care providers, time saving and management to professionals including nurses and doctors. It also resulted in facilitation of other functions including performance management and secondary analysis of routine data (Jeremy & David, 2010). It was established in 2004 after a systematic review of 26 studies that the adoption of EHRs in health care facilities increased the provision of quality preventive care to patients and adherence to guidelines in prescriptions and clinical recommendations (Jeremy & David, 2010). More specifically, adoption and implementation of the EHRs in the health care facilities have the following benefits; Improved quality and convenience of patient care EHRs have the capability of greatly improving health care quality. It also makes the provision of healthcare more convenient to both patients and providers. This is attributed to quick access to patient records from remote locations (Goldberg, Kuzel, Deshayo, & Love, 2012). Hence allowing coordinated and efficient care. It also has real-time processing that enhances decision support, reminders, clinical support and medical information. Patients are relieved of the tedious filling out same forms at each office or station that one visit; it also ensures reliable reminders of important health interventions to providers (Goldberg, Kuzel, Deshayo, & Love, 2012). The system improves information availability when and where it is needed by both the patient and the provider. Improved Patient participation Providers and patients can collaborate together in decision making due to the shared access to electronic health information. Patient participation is important in the management and treatment of critical and chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma and obesity (Goldberg, Kuzel, Deshayo, & Love, 2012). The EHRs promotes this participation by helping providers to ensure high quality care by giving the patients accurate and full information regarding their medical evaluations. The provider can additionally offer follow up on the patient. It also helps to create communication between the patients and the providers (Goldberg, Kuzel, Deshayo, & Love, 2012). Improved Diagnostics and patient outcomes Patients receive better medical care and diagnosis if the health care providers have access to complete and accurate information. Electronic Health Records will improve the ability of providers to diagnose, prevent and reduce medical errors thus improving patient outcomes (Goldberg, Kuzel, Deshayo, & Love, 2012). Statistics have shown that 94 % of providers report that the adoption of EHRs improves availability of information at the point of care, 88% report improvement of clinical benefits while 75% of providers report that EHRs allows them to deliver better patient care (Goldberg, Kuzel, Deshayo, & Love, 2012). Conclusion and summary Despite the immense benefits that can be realized by adoption of EHRs in health care facilities, the providers are slow in adopting this technologies which have the capability to greatly improve service delivery. However, with the few places that the technology has been adopted great results have been realized by both the patients and the service providers. Great milestones in adoption of the technologies can be realized if the Government can step in and provide guidelines and regulations that would enhance the streamlining of such technologies in the health care sector References Goldberg, G., Kuzel, A., Deshayo, P., & Love, L. (2012). EHRs in Primary care practices: Benefits,Challenges and successful strategies. The American Journal of Managed Care, 48-54. HealthIT. (2014). What is electronic Health Record. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from Healthit.gov: http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/faqs/what-electronic-health-record-ehr Jeremy, G., & David, M. (2010). Evidence Summary:Electronic Health Records (EHRs). Retrieved April 30, 2014, from OHRI: http://www.ohri.ca/kta/docs/KTA-EHR-Evidence-Review.pdf Appendix Figure 1. Percentage of physicians whose electronic health records provided selected benefits Read More