Evidence and Expert - Coursework Example

? Evidence and Expert Interview Paper Niccole E. Bordino Chamberlain School of Nursing Jeffery Hudson NR 447 Collaborative Health Care Evidence and Expert Interview Paper Introduction My two SMART goals were developed to help in progressing in my professional practice. The Leadership Development goal focuses on learning and utilizing my employer’s electronic health record and web portal for organizational wide communication. I chose this goal because my company is transitioning from a paper to electronic patient records to meet meaningful use requirements set out by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical health Act. The organizational planning goal focuses on staffing and management of patients’ flow. I chose this as a goal because poor staffing is problem that adversely affects a health care provider’s ability to provide quality care. An insufficiency of staff members to manage the on-call system has led to lots of complaints from patients. The objective of my organizational goal is to find a solution to help the on-call system function more efficiently, preventing staff burn out and improving patient care. Goal 1: Leadership development My Leadership development goal focuses on learning how to use the Advance Care Web Portal to search patient information, and communicate with scheduling, management, and pharmaceutical staff. The Web Portal is also used for creating and submitting nursing documentation. This knowledge will help me in identifying how patients can manage their health care without relying on the traditional office visit. Furthermore, I will be in a better position to use technology to link with the patients in different ways, including use of online platform to provide patient registration forms, sending appointment information anywhere anytime, use turn on/off features to realize full customization and to share lad data and results the HER of the Cerner. Peer – Reviewed Article To find more information in this area, I have reviewed an article by Kulhanek Brenda and Mark Kulhanek (Kulhanek and Kulhanek, 2013). This article is applicable to my smart goal because it addresses the challenges faced by my company and how these affect my personal practice. The article has highlighted very important information regarding adoption of Electronic Medical Records (EMR), hence making it easy to understand the benefits and challenges that an organization can experience following adoption of technology. The article has also highlighted the EMR benefits of efficiency and quality, and most importantly offered very crucial information on why leaders should empower members of the patient care team to effectively adopt technology as a fundamental component of the patient care process. Hynes et al. (2010) have written the other article that I used to further examine my leadership development goal. The authors have evaluated the role of Health Information Technology (HIT), as well as the barriers related to implementation of HIT. This information is very vital because I have been able to understand why realizing the benefits of HIT in health care has remained problematic, and I can use this knowledge to strategize how to address such problems in my organization. Credible Website In an effort to assist heath care providers in adopting and implementing electronic health records, the federal government has a website meant for this purpose (HealthIT.gov. 2013). This web site provides (synonym) health care providers and professionals with the information and tolls necessary to transition from paper medical records to an electronic health record. Information topics for providers are the benefits of EHR, how to implement and EHR, protecting patient privacy utilizing EHR, and incentives to adopting and EHR. The website provides implementers with educational videos. This page also provides educational case studies and transitional strategies for adopting a HER, and resources connecting providers with information technology professionals. Information expert interview analysis In regards to this goal, I interviewed an IT manager, who is in charge the information systems of a nursing home. The manager told me that his organization has recently automated all its services, a strategy that has led to benefits such as reduction of operations costs, and quick delivery of customer service, just to mention but a few. The IT manager also mentioned to me that implementation of automated information systems in a health care organization needs strong leadership, just like any other project. He emphasized that strong team work and involvement of the end user during the implementation process is vital. Most importantly, the manager told me that deployment of Electronic Medical Records is very essential in enhancing health care service efficiency, but he told me that many organizations are having problems because many heath care workers do not possess strong IT skills. However, he disclosed to me that taking these staff for refresher courses in IT is a perfect way of addressing this problem. Goal 2: Organizational Planning In order to further enhance health care provision, I shall be involved in arranging for employment of additional nurses to facilitate adequate time off and to facilitate on-calls. This strategy will be important in ensuring that nurses provide high quality services in their on-calls and after-hours work, which for example will be achieved by arranging teams with suitable support and medical back-up from a doctor conversant with the local area. The overall goal is to free the on-call nurse for emergency calls only. Peer – Reviewed Article Ting and Humphrey (2005) have discussed the roles of medical officers during urgent review of patients during after-hours and on-calls. Therefore, I found this source very useful for the purpose of this particular goal. The authors have expounded how the current practice whereby nurses request medical officer to participate in after-hours can have a negative impact on health delivery as well as the impacts on nursing and medical resources during such engagements. This information is very crucial as it highlight the challenges and the expectations that I expect to face in my organization while pursuing this goal. To further understand how after hours program and on-calls can be organized to enhance the quality and efficiency of health officers, I have reviewed Luberti and (2001), who have discussed how health officers are using telephone care during office hours and when on-call. This information is useful in planning how to best use telephone services to achieve my intended organizational goal. Credible website NMH Urgent Care has posted very reliable information in their website, regarding offering of urgent care in a cost-effective and high quality manner (MHM, 2013). This information is very useful because the issues that this organization addresses are the same we shall be attempting to address in our programs. In addition, I have reviewed Health affairs.org website, which stores very useful information regarding management of after-hours care in the United Kingdom and other countries (HealthAffairs, 2013). The information contained in this website shows why after-hours health care in many countries are of poor quality, and the strategies that can be used to ensure that these programs are of high quality. Information expert interview analysis I happened to interview a nursing manager in regards to issues of management of after-hours and call-ins. He told me that many nurses are experiencing difficulties because of spending so much after-hours attending to clients, leaving little or no time for resting. He however revealed to me that call-in sessions can be very productive if nurses are offered support though better organization of such programs. Some of the recommendations he gave for ensuring that call-in sessions are effective include recruitment of more staff, assistance of nurses by other staff such as doctors, and offering free time per week, among others. Summary The study of the peer-reviewed articles and credible websites have helped in identifying how different health care institutions undergo challenges when deploying IT systems or when running call-in sessions. It has been evident that proper use of call-in and deployment of electronic medical systems and other IT infrastructure offers invaluable benefits to health organizations, for example by ensuring cost-efficiency and high quality of service delivery. However, good leadership is essential in the success of such programs. The two individuals that I interviewed echoed the importance of the leaders offering proper coordination and ensuring good work conditions, among other ingredients of effective organizational management. References HealthAffairs (2013). Health Affairs. Retrieved from: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/25/6/1733.full HealthIT.gov. (2013). Information website. Retrieved from http://www.healthit.gov/providers- professionals Hynes, Denise M, PhD,M.P.H., R.N., Weddle, T., Smith, N., Whittier, E., Atkins, D., & Francis, J. (2010). Use of health information technology to advance evidence-based care: Lessons from the VA QUERI program. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 25, 44-9. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11606-009-1144-0 Kulhanek, B., & Kulhanek, M. (2013). Between Process and Outcomes: Human Performance Technology in Health Care. ANIA-CARING Newsletter, 28(1), 4-6. Luberti, A. A., M.D. (2001). After-hours telephone care: Options for the pediatrician. Pediatric Annals, 30(5), 249-54. MHM .(2013). NHM Urgent care. Retrieved from http://www.mhmurgentcare.com/mission- statement.html Ting, J. Y. S., & Humphrey, K. J. (2005). After hours medical ward duties in a teaching hospital. Australian Health Review, 29(1), 37-42. Read More