As the old saying goes, “practice makes perfect, and in no place is that phrase more important than a profession in which it's your job to save people's lives.
So when it comes to training the next generation of nurses, an increasing number of nursing schools are looking at how an educational EHR improves can patient outcomes.
When nurses and other health care providers have access tocomplete and accurate information, patients receive better medical care and overall outcomes improve.Electronic health records(EHRs) can improve the ability to diagnose diseases and reduce-even prevent-medical errors. Accurate records can literally mean the difference between life or death in some cases.
Integrating Patient Photos Into The Ehr Increases Patient Safety
With EHRs, nurses can enter, retrieve, and update individual patient records. Plus, the organizations that utilize these EHRs receive helpful tools, such as reminders and alarms, to help automate processes for improved clinical accuracy and outcomes. Electronic documentation with these systems can help decrease documentation deficiencies and errors, as well, since an EHR system's prompts remind a nurse to chart certain important aspects of the patient's case.
Dr. Christopher Tashjian, a family medicine practitioner in Ellsworth, Wis., was visiting Estonia in 2011 when he got a call from a patient who needed a refill on blood pressure medications. Dr. Tashjian was able to access his patient's records using a mobile connection to his EHR, and called in a refill for the patient. He specifically sites the EHR's summary abilities as being extremely useful in improving patient outcomes.
“All their important health information is captured in the summary. They can take a print out of the summary to another doctor, which is also a helpful safety measure, Dr. Tashjian explained. “In addition to helping providers offer quality health care, the summaries allow patients to better remember what happened at their most recent visit and review their health data.
Conceptual Framework To Study Electronic Health Record Workarounds,...
Plus, he added, “from a safety standpoint, one of the most obvious benefits is the computer physician order entry. There is no more confusion about the care instructions or the prescriptions I write because it is all done electronically.
Many negative - and, even, deadly - patient outcomes can often be prevented with proper documentation. Some of the most common medical documentation errors can also be the most disastrous. Plus, improper documentation can open up an employer to liability and malpractice lawsuits. For nurses, who are on the front lines of defense in the medical field, being adequately trained early on proper documentation with educational EHRs can help avoid such medical errors, save lives and help protect their employers.
Also, a combination of the above common nursing and medical documentation errors can also lead to medication errors. Academic EHRs benefit nursing students in preventing medical documentation errors before entering into real-world practice.
Pdf) Identification Of Patient Safety Risks Associated With Electronic Health Records: A Software Quality Perspective
The number of hospitals adopting EHR technology surged from fewer than 10% in 2008 to nearly 84% in 2015, according to federal data. But in order for EHRs to be efficient and effective in improving patient outcomes, practicing nurses need to be proficient in the technology. They need to know how to complete electronic care plans, collect data needed for patient education, and complete discharge planning. They also need to know how to effectively document in real-time rather than waiting until the end of the shift.
As hospitals aim to advance care planning and quality, providers need real-time tools and evidence-based resources that empower them to improve health outcomes.
Nursing education programs provide nursing students with the fundamental nursing knowledge they will need to make quick, clinical decisions on the job that will be incorporated in EHRs. But nursing students also need to be taught to utilize EHRs to complete complex clinical calculations, identify potential drug interactions, and quickly scan large amounts of information if the appropriate electronic reports are accessible. The more practice they get using educational EHRs in class, the more comfortable they will be with them in a real patient setting.
Electronic Health Record
Up until a few years ago, academic institutions offering nursing degrees did not typically include EHR use in curricula and nurses reported they were not prepared to use EHRs. But that has all changed. Today, nursing program faculty are working to develop curricula that includes current information technology, such as adding simulated EHRs to the assignments for the assessments and care plans completed during clinical rotation. The practice is needed to fill existing gapsbetween the informatics knowledge new nurses have and the skills they need to have on the job.
Students have sharedthat the use of academic EHRs improved their charting performance, critical thinking skills, and preparedness for practice after graduation. Instructors benefit too, and say that using an academic EHR allowed them to provide immediate feedback to students and help students to further develop clinical reasoning skills as well as clinical skills.
Haywood Community College's School of Nursing in Clyde, NC, is just one college that has chosen Lippincott's DocuCare as their educational EHR of choice to prepare their nursing students for practice. Here's how the nursing program at Haywood deployed
The Electronic Medical Record
Said Michael Youngwood, Lead Instruction Clinical & Simulation Coordinator at Haywood Community College's School of Nursing. “I can run simulations that are true to real-world hospital settings. It enables our students to graduate with hands-on experience with electronic health records, have better skill sets, and are more likely to find jobs when they graduate.
The leader of integrated, digital learning solutions for nursing education — combining engaging content and deep analytics to help students prepare for practice
Is the best EHR training and education solution guaranteed to prepare students for the clinical demands of practice. This educational EHR enhances clinical learning by contextualizing realistic patient scenarios for nurses with hands-on documentation, all in an easy-to-use program. This educational also:
What Is Ehr: Benefits And Disadvantages
Allows a streamlined way for students to focus their clinical skills and their charting skills, It was really a great experience and I recommend it to students. said Elizabeth Kozlak, a nursing student at Northwestern Connecticut Community College in Winchester, Ct.
Is very easy to program, added Lawrence R. Kobulinsky, CHSOS, Instructional Development Specialist at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. “Whether it's creating a brand-new chart from scratch or modifying one that's pre-programmed, it does not take long for an inexperienced user to gain proficiency in programming charts.One of the biggest advancements in healthcare IT technology over the past few decades is the use of electronic health record (EHR) systems.
According to The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, over 95% of hospitals possess an EHR – and for good reason. EHRs come with a list of benefits, including easier record management, centralized record storage, faster record updates, simpler record transfers, and more.
The Future Of Electronic Health Records
Studies have shown that EHRs can help improve patient safety and can produce measurable improvements to patient outcomes. So, how does an EHR improve patient safety? Read on to learn more.
It’s no secret that EHRs are helpful for healthcare organizations. In a national physician survey, doctors noted the following benefits of EHR systems:
EHRs provide clear advantages for how clinics manage patient records, but how do those benefits connect to your EHR and patient safety? Let’s look at a few examples.
Identified Factors Influencing Patient Safety Outcomes. Ehr: Electronic...
When EHR systems rose to prominence throughout the 1970s and 1980s, clinicians quickly realized the communication advantages of digitized health records over their paper counterparts, including the fact that:
If a patient needs to be referred to a specialist for a more serious issue, it’s easy for the primary care provider to transmit all relevant documentation to the specialist in a safe and secure way.
These EHR safety tools automatically pull data from electronic records to support a clinician’s care strategy. While CDSS alerts can span a broad range of healthcare applications, they typically involve helping providers with decision-making at the point of care. Clinical decision support systems can help with the following:
Ehr Adoption May Not Reduce Patient Safety, But Does It Help?
CDSS solutions have been validated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an effective way to improve patient outcomes. However, the system must be built on a robust and up-to-date EHR platform, as the CDSS is only as good as the patient data it has access to.
Despite all of their education and training, physicians are still human and prone to human error. Even the best physicians may make errors when diagnosing complex problems, but fortunately, EHR patient safety tools have advanced to the point where misdiagnoses can be identified and addressed before damage is done.
These tools support safety by providing data and information crucial to each physician’s diagnosing process. The more prepared each physician is, the better the odds of a successful outcome for the patient.
Pdf) The Significance Of Electronic Health Records To Reduction Of Patient Safety Events In Hospitals
Looking at your EHR and patient safety from a broader perspective, EHRs play an important role in large-scale population health by way of Meaningful Use and electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs).
Briefly, Meaningful Use refers to objectives that healthcare professionals must achieve to demonstrate their commitment to healthcare quality to be involved in the EHR Incentive Programs. Data for these programs is measured and reported through clinical EHR systems.
These measures relate to the general state of health services performed and how well a clinic provides safe, equitable, and timely care, including:
Patient Safety Errors Are Common With Electronic Health Record Use
Clinics who want to
