I would like to present to you my research of the pros and cons/ effectiveness and efficiency of EHR/EMRS replace paper records and the way we store information and review charts. My research also includes how these programs work and their effect on the economy Health Informatics or Medical Informatics is the intersection of information science, computer science, and health care. Health Informatics offers resources, devices, and methods required to optimize the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information in health and biomedicine (Davis & Garets, 2006).
The applicable areas would be nursing, clinical care, dentistry, pharmacy, public health, and bio medical research. Everyone can agree that the medical field has many important business and management decisions when it comes to patients’ health. This is why there are many processes in knowledge management that need to be followed, in order to achieve quality informatics in the medical field. Knowledge management systems are designed to “collect all relevant knowledge and experience in the firm and make it available wherever and whenever it is needed to support business processes and management decisions” (Laudon & Laudon, 2008).
Step one, is creating the knowledge by trial-anderror and selective retention methods. Next is to identify what useful knowledge could be gathered from the trial methods. Once the useful knowledge has been identified, the process that follows is to collect the knowledge data. Once the data is collected, it goes through the processes of organizing, sharing and adapting.
Informatics in Healthcare The main purpose of healthcare informatics is to provide better use of information in health care settings, to improve the quality f patient care and the efficiency of clinical processes (Maeder & McGregor, 2009). Some of the pro’s include : Decreased charting/prescribing errors, improved work-flow and productivity because of better systems and tools, immediate access to results, charts, and radiology pictures. By doing away with paper charting and record keeping you provide more space because you are no longer cluttering up space with those dusty records.
Some of the potential problems with quality of care and information systems implementation are increased cost that may take time to level itself out, having systems from different vendors that do not communicate with each other and thus not fostering interoperability or ease of care. As with all things there are risk involve but to reduce or completely eliminate risk we have to explore all possible ways to mitigate those factors that would possibly be more harmful than helpful with the implementation of EHR/EMRs.
Introduction of medical informatics was born out of a desire to enhance patient care as well as ease of care and treatment on the provider. Just as anyone else healthcare providers get burnt out and that came be accelerated by undue strain when seeking to treat and care for patients. Implementation seeks to make it easier to review last week’s lab results that were done in one clinic or review previous treatment rendered in another country while on vacation. Seeking to do this with a few keystrokes or clicks of your mouse is the driving factor.
As a patient how many times have you had to waste time because the doctor had to re run test that he could not get from another doctor that had just done them or waited for various people in your treatment or care plan to make contact with each other from their respective location to discuss you but one specialist was in San Diego, CA another in Houston, TX all while you are at the doctors office in Columbia, SC waiting on those people to connect and dialogue for answers. All of these reasons are why a better, faster, and more connected way to provide care is needed and has emerged.
There is a growing mandate for health care organizations to implement EHR systems to address patient safety and quality of care (Morrissey, 2006). There is some evidence that computerized medical records systems can improve health care delivery but there is little research to directly link EHRs to patient care outcomes other than through proxy measures. However, with federal dollars supporting many initiatives to automate medical offices, an infrastructure could be built that would provide the foundation for future research in this area.
For a successful transition of implementing an electronic medical record system, the computing service must be reliable, accessible, and have high-speed internet. Clinicians must integrate EMR systems into their workflow, and know how to function when the system is unavailable. Disruptions in workflow or information transfer can jeopardize patient safety. “Many situations exist where the use of eCommerce principles would be appropriate to establish new eHealth solutions, and these warrant extensive research investigation” (Morrissey, 2006).
There are several articles cited in the Guest Editors’ Introduction: EHealth and Services Computing in Healthcare article that address issues such as the business process modeling within healthcare, its requirements and the challenges. Developing adequately trained workforces in the United States and globally will assist in achieving an efficient transition into electronic health records. With this transition, the quality and security of health care can increase, as the cost of health care decreases
