Medical Essay on Benefits of Electronic Health Records

The Hebrew Home of Greater Washington uses Electronic Health Record as opposed to paper charts. The EHR employed at this facility is known as PointClickCare. PointClickCare is a cloud-based HER that provides a platform for improvement of healthcare service delivery. It assures the highest care quality with exemplary performance. As compared to other types of EHR, PointClickCare is relatively easy to install and use. One need not be a computer geek or professional to understand and use this system. Once you have the basic computer knowledge, then you are ready to go. Perhaps the biggest win about this software is its ability to simplify complex processes and present them in laymans language (Coiera, 2017).

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Therefore, one needs not to worry about regulatory compliance procedures. PointClickCare connects the whole care network and sees to secure interdepartmental communication and intraprofessional collaboration. Other forms of communication enhanced by PointClickCare include horizontal, lateral and diagonal. In the right manipulation, confidentiality can be maintained and limited to those that the information is meant for. Using PointClickCare, one can adjust the privileges of each user and limit them to their field area. For instance, nurses are not in to access or manipulate billing information making it an efficient EHR (Coiera, 2017).

Assessment of how the EHR does aligns to healthcare information standards

o If alignment is missing, review the rules that need to be considered.

PointClickCare is a very effective EHR primarily because it conforms to the healthcare information standards. Sensitivity is one of the primary characteristics of healthcare information. Information about someones health is very personal and should be treated with utmost confidentiality. PointClickCare facilitates this by ensuring that each user account is password protected and therefore, one cannot use another persons account to access or manipulate medical information. Secondly, depending on the position you hold in the facility, your privileges are very specific and limited to your departmental needs. This prevents unnecessary snooping and access to confidential information ("The Benefits of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) | Providers & Professionals | HealthIT.gov", 2017).

Secondly, the EHR uses hospital language that is understood by the entire hospital fraternity. Unlike other EHRs that use business language and one has to make the necessary adjustments to fit in the hospital context, PointClickCare is tailor cut for the hospital setting. The message delivery is instant, and this is very imperative in the hospital setting. An old saying goes a stitch in time saves nine, PointClickCare developers had an idea about the importance urgency when it comes to healthcare information. There are no lags associated with the program.

Analysis of the EHR security and actions they may need to take to ensure ongoing safety.

The security levels of PointClickCare are impressive. During my entire duration of the practicum, I have not come across any major safety issue. However, there are a few things that could use adjustments. For instance, since any member of the hospital fraternity can log onto their account from any computer, there should be an auto-lock mechanism in place. In that, when connected, each computer should automatically sign you out after a period of inactiveness, say 30 minutes. On refreshing the computer, it is supposed to ask you for a password thus, locking out people from your account ("The Benefits of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) | Providers & Professionals | HealthIT.gov", 2017).

The option of remembering name and password for this system should be deactivated for good. All members should log onto the EHR software on each visit there to ensure total security.

Explanation of how patient confidentiality is managed

Patient confidentiality is of ultimate importance in healthcare service delivery. Breach of patient confidentiality could attract serious legal and professional consequences, and for that reason, it should be a priority when selecting EHR program.

When it comes to patient privacy, the program allows staff to access and real-time information exchange. For instance, patient results are sent through the program are secured with an end-to-end encryption which means that the developers or any third parties cannot access the results. PointClickCare ensures closed communication. The CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) certified HER ensures high-level confidentiality and the information is only accessed by those it is meant for (De Bord, Burke, & Dudzinski, 2013).

Outline how the nurse administrator may use data to make appropriate decisions

o Describe the process.

Data obtained from the EHR can be used to make appropriate decisions and carry out the necessary changes. To be an effective change agent, the following process should be followed.

1. Acknowledge and understand why change is necessary This is the first step of initiating the desired change in healthcare service delivery. A nurse administrator should understand the need for this change and the solution that is anticipated.

2. Communicate the need for change Once you understand the necessity of modification in this sector, you should communicate it to the fellow nurses and make it clear to them.

3. Develop change plans- The change plans soon follow. For instance, using the data obtained from the EHR, the nurse can calculate the frequency of patients and assess their satisfaction levels using questionnaires.

4. Implementation of change plans Once the plans are in place, the administrator nurse should ensure that they are obeyed with the aid of supervision.

5. Progress Evaluation After the said change has been implemented, the nurse administrator should assess the benefits associated with it and acknowledge the fellow nurses.

References

Coiera, E. (2017). Communication Systems in Healthcare. PubMed Central (PMC). Retrieved 3 February 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1579411/

De Bord, J., Burke, W., & Dudzinski, D. (2013). Confidentiality: Ethical Topic in Medicine. Depts.washington.edu. Retrieved 3 February 2017, from https://depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/confiden.html

The Benefits of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) | Providers & Professionals | HealthIT.gov. (2017). Healthit.gov. Retrieved 3 February 2017, from https://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/benefits-electronic-health-records-ehrs