Successful Implementation of Electronic Health Information Technology

Health Information Technology (HIT) is an amalgamation of technologies that share, analyze, and store health information (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015). The use of IT in the health care delivery system enhances the ways in which patients communicate with their doctors and how they receive treatment. However, according to Jaen (2011), HIT promises are thwarted by the contemporary incentives built into the reimbursement of primary care such as fee-for-service-only. Moreover, electronic health records (EHRs) fail to support clinical operations hence the need for involving nurses in the various stages of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), which is the focus of the exposition.

If this sample essay on"Successful Implementation of Electronic Health Information Technology" doesn’t help,
our writers will!

Trust an expert

Involving the nurses in the various stages of SDLC enhances the efficiency of EHRs and the support for clinical operations (Hsiao, Chang, & Chen, 2011). For instance, in the management of chronic ailments, there is a need for accurate and timely information that aids in patient care. However, the design of most EHRs focuses on the documentation of encounters and payment (Kelley, Brandon, & Docherty, 2011). They fail to address the longitudinal care of such ailments and the clinical operations. Involving nurses in the SDLC stages enhances how the EHRs work and what the various functionalities of the system should address.

According to Khalifa (2013), failure to involve the nurses in the different stages leads to various barriers to the implementation of the EHRs. Such failures may include human barriers that may relate to attitudes and behaviors, technical barriers that relate to the way the system works, and financial barriers. Conclusively, failure to involve all the stakeholders when selecting and implementing a new technology may lead to financial losses to an organization. In the selection and implementation of EHRs, nurses should be involved in the various stages of the SDLC (Boswell, 2011).

References

Boswell, R. A. (2011). A physician groups movement toward electronic health records: A case study using the transtheoretical model for organizational change. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 63(2), 138148.

Hsiao, J., Chang, H., & Chen, R. (2011). A study of factors affecting acceptance of hospital information systems: A nursing perspective. Journal of Nursing Research, 19(2), 150160.

Jaen, C. (2011). Successful Health Information Technology Implementation Requires Practice and Health Care System Transformation. The Annals Of Family Medicine, 9(5), 388-389. http://dx.doi.org/10.1370/afm.1307Kelley, T. F., Brandon, D. H., & Docherty, S. L. (2011). Electronic nursing documentation as a strategy to improve quality of patient care. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 43(2), 154162.

Khalifa, M. (2013). Barriers to Health Information Systems and Electronic Medical Records Implementation. A Field Study of Saudi Arabian Hospitals. Procedia Computer Science, 21, 335-342. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2013.09.044McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2015). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.