Benefits and Challenges of EHR Implementation in a Psychiatric Hospital - Essay Example

?Evaluation of the Benefits and Challenges of EHR Implementation in a Psychiatric Hospital 21st, January, Introduction For effective performance of health institutions, there is need for improvement of the management of records through adoption of new technologies. Electronic Health Records (EHR) refers to the use of technologies in clinical setting for purposes such as record keeping and management. Psychiatric hospitals have great opportunities and benefits to reap from implementation of EHR. EHR has the capacity of improving service delivery in psychiatric hospital by improving access and sharing of information. However, psychiatric hospitals have demonstrated low rates of HER implementation. This essay will focus on the benefits and challenges of EHR implementation in a psychiatric hospital setting. Adoption of EHR is one of the top priorities in the entire U.S. health system. Moreover, psychiatric hospitals, which have to manage vast patients’ records, require a system that would enhance management and access of such records. Besides, psychiatric patients often complain of the care given and are likely to sue caregivers if they feel the care provided was inadequate. Therefore, records are crucial for proper management of patients. Most psychiatric hospitals have been using paper records, making it a challenge for coordinated and easy management of records. Therefore, adoption of EHR would enhance proper, essential, and up to date record keeping. This would ensure amiable resolution of controversies such as ligations and ensure improved quality of services in psychiatric hospitals (Goetz Goldberg, et al., 2012). Benefits of Psychiatric Hospitals Implementing HER Psychiatric hospitals that have or are planning to implement HER stand a chance of reaping several benefits. One of the major benefits is being able to capture the vast information of their patients in a coded format. Another benefit is being able to track the clinical condition of the patients and for quality reporting. This is very important since management of psychiatric patients requires collaboration between different healthcare providers. Moreover, management of psychiatric patients is long term and requires continuous tracking of the patient’s health progress by evaluating the health records. Moreover, caregivers in psychiatric hospitals such as nurses are required to report to their colleagues for enhanced management of patients. Use of manual records like in most psychiatric hospitals, makes these processes cumbersome. However, implementation of EHR will enhance the tracking of patient’s records as well as reporting procedures enhancing caregiving in psychiatric hospitals (Goetz Goldberg, et al., 2012). Another significant benefit of EHR in a psychiatric hospital is supporting clinical decisions and enhancing coordination in caregiving. While managing psychiatric hospitals, several decisions involving the patients require to be made. Since the decisions involve several departments, sharing of the patients is important. EHR will enhance sharing of information and lead to increased coordination to ensure that the decisions are timely. This is because different caregivers can be able to access the patient’s information at a go. This is especially important while handling emergency cases where different departments are required to collaborate (Boyer, Samuelian, Fieschi, & Lancon, 2010). Opportunities for Psychiatric Hospital with Implementation of HER Adoption of EHR is beneficial to health systems. Health organizations adopting and implementing EHR stand higher chances of benefiting from the large financial incentives provided to organizations that have qualified and successfully implemented certified electronic health record systems (Dimitropoulos, et al., 2011). Another opportunity that would arise from implementation of EHR is improved time management. Substitution of paper based record keeping with EHR would give psychiatric caregivers adequate time to focus on care provision and career development programs. Moreover, EHR provides great opportunities for caregivers to notice any inefficiency in the caregiving systems and work on them leading to overall improvement of caregiving (Goetz Goldberg, et al., 2012). Another opportunity that a psychiatric hospital would get from implementing EHR is ability to install other programs such as automatic communication. This is because it would make it easy to install call alerts to make it easy to attend to patients who may require special care. This is crucial since patients in Psychiatric hospitals require great attention especially from nurses (Sharfstein, Dickerson, & Oldham, 2009). Challenges of EHR Implementation in a Psychiatric Hospital and Possible Solutions Implementation of EHR in a psychiatric hospital is faced by significant challenges the major challenges. One of the major challenges is finances. EHR implementation requires a lot of money for purchase of EHR systems as well as training the staff in the psychiatric hospital how to use the systems. However, most psychiatric hospitals are faced by financial limitations. This is because psychiatric hospitals offer services that are incapable of enabling them raise sufficient funds for implementation and maintain ace of EHR programs. However, this challenge can be addressed through seeking financial aid from donors such as Non-Governmental organizations that are often willing to aid institutions dealing with psychiatric patients. Moreover, psychiatric hospitals can apply for federal funding (Goetz Goldberg, et al., 2012). Another challenge facing EHR implementation in a psychiatric hospital regard the privacy of the patient since EHR can lead to access of patient’s private information by other parties. Such parties can use the information for selfish purposes such as blemishing a person’s reputation. Moreover, the lack of technological clarity regarding disclosure of patient health information to secondary sources has made it easier for wrong people to access patient’s information. However, this problem can be easily resolved through use of HIPPA Act, which explains issues surrounding disclosure of private health information (Luo, 2006). An additional challenge facing implementation of EHR in a psychiatric hospital setup is the bulk paper records possessed by psychiatric hospitals. Therefore, it becomes burdensome to convert the paper records into electronic records. A possible solution to this challenge is converting the record through a gradual process, which should not be abrupt to make the process less challenging. Deadlines can be set to ensure the process is completed in a specific period (Shield, et al., 2010). Conclusion Psychiatric hospitals are characterized by vast records, which are often recorded in papers. This makes it challenging the hospitals to attend to the patients adequately. Therefore, implementation of EHR would enhance caregiving in psychiatric hospital since it would enhance easy access and sharing of patient’s information for coordinated and timely provision of care to the patients. However, psychiatric hospitals handle sensitive information that is often highly confidential. Therefore, EHR, which makes it easy for several parties to access patient’s information, may lead to misuse of such Information. However, HIPPA act guides caregivers on how to avoid such incidences. Other challenges include the challenge of converting records to electronic mode and the cost of purchasing the EHR system. Opportunities for EHR implementation include timely caregiving and opportunities to access federal funding due to enhanced reporting and management. References Boyer, L., Samuelian, J., Fieschi, M., & Lancon, C. (2010). Implementing electronic medical records in a psychiatric hospital: A qualitative study. International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 14(3), 223-227. doi: 10.3109/13651501003717243 Dimitropoulos, L., Patel, V., Scheffler, S. A., & Posnack, S. (2011). Public Attitudes toward Health Information Exchange: Perceived Benefits and Concerns. American Journal of Managed Care, 17SP111-SP116. Goetz Goldberg, D., Kuzel, A. J., Feng, L., DeShazo, J. P., & Love, L. E. (2012). EHRs in Primary Care Practices: Benefits, Challenges, and Successful Strategies. American Journal of Managed Care, 18(2), e48-e54. Luo, J. (2006). Electronic Medical Records. Primary Psychiatry Vol. 13 (2). P.20-23. Sharfstein, S., Dickerson, F., & Oldham, J. (2009). Textbook of Hospital Psychiatry. New York: America Psychiatric Pub. P. 470-472. Shield, R. R., Goldman, R. E., Anthony, D. A., Wang, N., Doyle, R. J., & Borkan, J. (2010). Gradual Electronic Health Record Implementation: New Insights on Physician and Patient Adaptation. Annals of Family Medicine, 8(4), 316-326. doi:10.1370/afm.1136 Read More