blog




  • Essay / Balancing advances and challenges in health informatics

    According to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the American Nurses Association, nursing informatics is “the specialty that integrates nursing science with multiple information and analytical sciences to identify, define, manage and communicate data, information, knowledge and wisdom in nursing practice” (“What is Nursing Informatics?”, 2020) . Today I present an in-depth analysis of electronic medical records, their implications compared to paper records in healthcare. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the Original EssayElectronic health records, which are a digital form of paper records, were developed in the 196s by Lockheed. The electronic health record contains, among many of its features, patient history, immunizations, medication lists, treatment plans, allergies, diagnoses, laboratory tests and results. The electronic health record allows health care providers to use evidence-based practices to make clinical decisions. Additionally, it automates and streamlines supplier workflow. The electronic health record has many advantages. In the United States, health care providers are required by law to institute electronic health records by 2014. The electronic health record enables better patient care and increased patient participation in their own health plan. care, as well as better coordination of care between different health care providers. Additionally, electronic health records cannot be lost as is the case with paper records and improve patient diagnosis and health outcomes. Despite all its advantages, however, electronic health history has many disadvantages. As employers and many healthcare providers attempt to increase their reimbursement dollars from Medicare and Medicaid, charting has become too important for employers to want to maximize their lion's share of the dollars. Old-fashioned bedside care has been put aside and more emphasis has been placed on ensuring nurses and caregivers document. My typical day, depending on whether I'm supervising on the floor or on the cart giving medications to my patients, I spend less time interacting with my patients or listing their concerns and more time click and click. Even though I am a supervisor in the field and not on the cart, I have spent more time clearing UDAs (user defined assessments), updating the patient care plan and less time with my patients. The nursing shortage and nurse burnout also prompt employers to take shortcuts in recruiting and providing necessary training to new employees on the use and application of electronic health records. At the facility where I work, new employees receive no more than 3 days of training, including 1 hour on electronic medical records. New nurses are expected to orient themselves and learn from their peers. It's surprising to hear many nurses, especially older ones, yearn for paper records. These nurses identify the ease of creating paper charts over electronic medical records and the time spent clicking rather than caring for patients as reasons. Nevertheless, for me, I do not fail to passan hour trying to clarify the doctor's order because some of the doctor's paperwork is not eligible. It is true that Hebda, Hunter and Czar (2019) have identified certain data that is monitored by organizations because it claims to concern them. to the care of the patient. At my facility, which is owned by an organization called Accordius Health, some data is monitored remotely daily and reported to the director of nursing or clinical liaison. One of the monitored data is called User Defined Assessment (UDA). These are computer-generated triggers or assessments that health care providers must investigate. These triggers may include a weight loss risk assessment, dehydration risk assessment, dietary assessment, pain assessment, and many others. They must be completed daily. Let's say the assessment is scheduled because today it will turn black, prompting the nurses to complete it. If this is not done today, it will turn red tomorrow and you will hear a phone call from the organization's representative wherever he is. The second data that the organization sees remotely is the MDS and the resource utilization group, or RUG score. This indicates the patient's level of care and the amount of reimbursement the facility expects if certain criteria are met. If the evaluation of certain patients is completed in a thorough and timely manner and based on the complexity of the patient's care, the facility expects some reimbursement for the work performed. Required assessments are monitored remotely and communicated daily to the Director of Nursing or MDS Coordinator. The third organization of data accessed remotely is web browsing, private messaging on the establishment computer and at work. Nurses are not permitted to use facility computers for private purposes. I think this is understandable as it has major implications for patient safety and privacy and is monitored remotely. There are of course some ethical concerns about organizations tracking data even if health data is protected by law. Medical records and prescription data are used, and even sold, for a variety of purposes (“Big data in Healthcare: Privacy is major ethical concern,” 2017). According to Dr. Kaplan, patients may have no idea what is being done with this data. He further said that the various medical devices, wearables or smartphone apps can also generate information and all of this is not covered under HIPAA. Another implication of organizations monitoring data remotely relates to patient care. The person monitoring the system remotely may not have complete information about what is happening on the ground, such as patient needs in activities of daily living or clinical emergencies. A nurse may prioritize assisting a patient with a fall or performing an acute clinical intervention over documentation. Therefore, in my opinion, less emphasis is placed on the actual needs of the patient and more on documentation and evaluation related to higher reimbursements from insurance companies. In this week's discussion, I identified the electronic health record as the topic of my project. At my workplace, we are always in/