Week 2: Experiences With Healthcare Information Systems (graded)
Share your experiences with healthcare information systems in the past or present. How have the
needs of a diverse patient population been met by your systems? If you were assigned to improve the
healthcare information systems or electronic health record, what would you suggest to better meet the
needs of all patients and of nurses? Why?
Bingley Response:
According to Silow-Carroll , Edwards, & Rodin (2012), “for an EHR system to be used
successfully, it must be integrated through a well-designed process and into a receptive culture” (p. 21).
In last
week’s discussion I shared an experience regarding an incident when Cleveland Clinic first introduced the
ESI department to the EPIC ASAP system. The younger nurses, including myself, were excited about its
arrival. Senior nursing staff was less optimistic. During an 8-hour EPIC ASAP competency course one
senior nurse who had at last 30 years of experience never returned to class after the lunch break. Even
though she asked lots of questions she had a negative attitude towards the change. That same nurse
put in her retirement shortly after the course and made her exit out 2 weeks before EPIC ASAP went
live. Although I believe having EMR improves the workflow of nurses my own personal challenge has
been with barcode medication administration systems. “The barcode systems are designed to prevent
common medication errors at the bedside, document medication administration, and capture charges”
(Hebda & Czar, 2013, p. 117). I’ve found challenges with scanning medications in rounded vials, such as
insulin. I often feel like patients think I’m incompetent because I sit there trying to constantly scan a vial
repeatedly till the barcode picks up. This can be time consuming, slows me down, and takes away from
my patient care. Not to mention if I acquire two many medication overrides in the system I run the risk
of receiving a written incidental from my nurse manager. The other challenge I’ve found is that many
patients have newer medications that our organization may not carry. Patients are allowed to bring
their own medication for administration, however, the medication must be verified by the staff
pharmacist
and a barcode must be distributed by the pharmacy department for the nurse to scan for
administration. This process can be timely.
Since the implementation of the EPIC system in our organization the patient portal
MyChart/MiRecord in English and Spanish enable patients to schedule appointments, ask questions of
their physicians, view test results, and order prescription refills. Patients appreciate the convenience of
being able to contact their physician at any time of day or night. Providers have the ability to send
patients post-visit clinical summaries and lab results via an attachment and respond to patient messages
in between seeing patients to complete tasks more efficiently and avoid “phone tag” with patients.
Also, for the Arabic community our Patient Global Services Department can be contacted to assist the
Arabic patients in making follow up appointments, with Arabic physicians if they chose, using the EPIC
system before they are discharged from the ER.
There are number of advantages of an electronic healthcare records and these are following (Hebda
& Czar, 2013, p. 116):
It provides the accurate data and up to date data of the patients which seems helpful for
their care.
It helps for the quick access of the records of the patients which seems helpful for
the coordinated treatments.
https://www.coursehero.com/file/21817225/Week-2-DQ-Experiences-With-Healthcare-Information-Systems/
Share your experiences with healthcare information systems in the past or present. How have the
needs of a diverse patient population been met by your systems? If you were assigned to improve the
healthcare information systems or electronic health record, what would you suggest to better meet the
needs of all patients and of nurses? Why?
Bingley Response:
According to Silow-Carroll , Edwards, & Rodin (2012), “for an EHR system to be used
successfully, it must be integrated through a well-designed process and into a receptive culture” (p. 21).
In last
week’s discussion I shared an experience regarding an incident when Cleveland Clinic first introduced the
ESI department to the EPIC ASAP system. The younger nurses, including myself, were excited about its
arrival. Senior nursing staff was less optimistic. During an 8-hour EPIC ASAP competency course one
senior nurse who had at last 30 years of experience never returned to class after the lunch break. Even
though she asked lots of questions she had a negative attitude towards the change. That same nurse
put in her retirement shortly after the course and made her exit out 2 weeks before EPIC ASAP went
live. Although I believe having EMR improves the workflow of nurses my own personal challenge has
been with barcode medication administration systems. “The barcode systems are designed to prevent
common medication errors at the bedside, document medication administration, and capture charges”
(Hebda & Czar, 2013, p. 117). I’ve found challenges with scanning medications in rounded vials, such as
insulin. I often feel like patients think I’m incompetent because I sit there trying to constantly scan a vial
repeatedly till the barcode picks up. This can be time consuming, slows me down, and takes away from
my patient care. Not to mention if I acquire two many medication overrides in the system I run the risk
of receiving a written incidental from my nurse manager. The other challenge I’ve found is that many
patients have newer medications that our organization may not carry. Patients are allowed to bring
their own medication for administration, however, the medication must be verified by the staff
pharmacist
and a barcode must be distributed by the pharmacy department for the nurse to scan for
administration. This process can be timely.
Since the implementation of the EPIC system in our organization the patient portal
MyChart/MiRecord in English and Spanish enable patients to schedule appointments, ask questions of
their physicians, view test results, and order prescription refills. Patients appreciate the convenience of
being able to contact their physician at any time of day or night. Providers have the ability to send
patients post-visit clinical summaries and lab results via an attachment and respond to patient messages
in between seeing patients to complete tasks more efficiently and avoid “phone tag” with patients.
Also, for the Arabic community our Patient Global Services Department can be contacted to assist the
Arabic patients in making follow up appointments, with Arabic physicians if they chose, using the EPIC
system before they are discharged from the ER.
There are number of advantages of an electronic healthcare records and these are following (Hebda
& Czar, 2013, p. 116):
It provides the accurate data and up to date data of the patients which seems helpful for
their care.
It helps for the quick access of the records of the patients which seems helpful for
the coordinated treatments.
https://www.coursehero.com/file/21817225/Week-2-DQ-Experiences-With-Healthcare-Information-Systems/
