Electronic Health Record Systems (EHRS) help store and retrieve data, making the work environment an organized system. But that is not the most important benefit; patient safety and patient-quality care delivery are the leading causes of why this technology is being implemented. Patient care can be delivered more safely now and that is because all proper clinicians have access to the same data as you. One newly implemented technology I observed at work was that the pharmacy my facility is contracted with now has access to all medication orders imputed in the patient’s record Role of Informatics in Patient Care Outcomes HSN 376 Wk 1 Discussion. So, for example, if a new medication imputed has an interaction or risk for an allergic reaction it automatically alerts the person imputing the order. The pharmacy will withhold the medication until given an okay by the nurse to release it. This is after the nurse has clarified the order with the doctor. Traditional paper health records used in the past did not give you this benefit and many times these mistakes were not caught on time and resulted in patient harm.

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The EHRS is now being implemented in most facilities, and you see less use of traditional paper health records. Another benefit as stated in the Handbook of Informatics, “The SEHR enables a clinician at the point of care to access a patient’s records without the delays of submitting requests and waiting for transmissions” (Hebda et al., 2019, p.113). Role of Informatics in Patient Care Outcomes HSN 376 Wk 1 Discussion At work, when doctors give us narcotic prescription orders over the telephone, a doctor must sign the order for the pharmacy to dispense the medication to the facility. This is another example of how EHRS has improved communication and made patient care delivery fast and efficient by having doctors easily access and sign these prescriptions.

Reference:

Hebda, T., Hunter, K., & Czar, P. (2019). Handbook of informatics for nurses & healthcare professionals (6th ed). Prentice-Hall/Pearson Role of Informatics in Patient Care Outcomes HSN 376 Wk 1 Discussion