Advantages of Electronic Health Records in Healthcare - Research Paper

Introduction

There are numerous advantages of electronic health records in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Some of the benefits include the following:

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Improved Quality of Care

When the notes are computerized, it is easier to read and understand notes than when they are in a physician's handwriting (Yadav et al., 2018). It therefore, reduces the chances of misinterpreting the patient's information. Every data is recorded timely and saved well. Medical errors are reduced, as there will be no interchange between patients' records. Errors have been a significant cause of death.

Efficiency

The medical staff no longer take time searching for patient's files. All the records of the client can be found after a few strikes on the keyboard. The records are backed up, and it is hard to lose the patient's information. If the traditional method of filing is used, some papers may be left out or even lost in the process. The doctor might be requiring the patient's information quickly, and it is easier to obtain it from his end than before when they had to request that the file of the patient to be searched.

Saving Space

Electronic health records ensure that the available space is utilized well. There is no need for shelves packed with files. A few computers are enough to store information for a long time. The pace can be utilized for medicines and other essentials.

Patient Access

Many electronic health records have patients' portal where they can follow their treatment process. When the patient is able to follow his records, he is empowered with knowledge and can ask questions where they feel there is a need for clarification. Such a step reduces medical errors.

Disadvantages of Electronic Health Records

Privacy and Security Issues

There is no technology which can be said to be 100% safe. Therefore, the information which is in EHR can be prone to hacking. Personal information is essential and can be used against somebody if it gets into the wrong hands (Snyder & Wu, 2017). Some patients are not comfortable having their data in a system in which they are not assured of its security. Unethical staff can also upload the patient's information somewhere without anyone realizing. Technology makes it possible to send extensive data through the internet or even carry it using some small devices like flashes.

Inaccurate Information

Healthcare workers usually trust the information which they obtain from EHR. There are a few staff who will go a step further to verify whether the information they collect belongs to the patient. The physicians believe that what they acquire from computers must be free of errors. They do not remember about garbage in garbage out. A small mistake made while inputting the patient's data can affect the whole treatment process (Dinev et al., 2016). There is a possibility of interchanging two patient's data. The two patients end up receiving the wrong medication, and it can take long before it is realized.

Frightening Patients

When the patients see the treatment process in their end, sometimes it can cause panic (Ma et al., 2018). They may interpret a file wrongly and even affect how they respond to treatment. Some information is better shared by the doctor professionally. The healthcare provider can know the right words to use and also offer counselling services before giving the patients their results. Some ailments take a process before they are adequately treated. Patients may feel that the doctor is not doing enough on his end. Where they are not able to access the actual records, they can be encouraged that they are improving even when they are far from getting well.

My Own Belief

I belief that Electronic Health Records have more advantages compared to disadvantages. It is the responsibility of those who are tasked to manage the systems to be ethical and maintain a high level of discipline. They should not share personal information with third parties. When the data is stored safely, it is to the advantage of the healthcare facility. It is easier to provide efficient services to clients.

There are advantages and disadvantages of allowing the patients to access their health records. I would suggest that there should be some information that the patient can access while the other sensitive part can be accessed by the hospital alone. Also, there can be patients who can be allowed to access their records while others; it is prudent that they do not see it. Some patients can handle some shocks while others cannot.

Some members of the family can be given the right to access what is inputted by the hospital staff in the systems to avoid cases of medical errors. When a different person cross-checks the information provided with a right to ask a question, then efficiency can be made even better. The hospital can take any step which they see it as appropriate to ensure that the EHR is used appropriately to the advantage of the patients, nurses, doctors, and the healthcare facility as a whole.

References

Dinev, T., Albano, V., Xu, H., D'Atri, A., & Hart, P. (2016). Individuals' attitudes towards electronic health records: A privacy calculus perspective. In Advances in healthcare informatics and analytics (pp. 19-50). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-23294-2_2

Ma, F., Gao, J., Suo, Q., You, Q., Zhou, J., & Zhang, A. (2018, July). Risk prediction on electronic health records with prior medical knowledge. In Proceedings of the 24th ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery & Data Mining (pp. 1910-1919). https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3219819.3220020

Snyder, C., & Wu, A. W. (2017). Users' guide to integrating patient-reported outcomes in electronic health records. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University. https://dcricollab.dcri.duke.edu/sites/NIHKR/KR/GR-Slides-10-13-17.pdf

Yadav, P., Steinbach, M., Kumar, V., & Simon, G. (2018). Mining Electronic Health Records (EHRs) A Survey. ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), 50(6), 1-40. https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3127881