Many have argued that going electronic won’t guarantee that patient care will improve, but numerous studies conducted by prestigious organizations have stated otherwise. Among them is a study conducted by D.W. Bates which suggests
that EHR features such as alerts and reminders do improve patient safety significantly when utilized in hospitals and ambulatory facilities.
Going electronic not only ensures the security of patient data, it streamlines communication between physicians and allows them to seamlessly transfer patient records amongst themselves. In a situation where a patient is unconscious
or unable to communicate, an EHR can alert the clinician about life threatening allergies, conditions, and other critical information. EHRs provide access to information and resources that ultimately result in better approaches
to treatments.
Certain EHR’s can provide more information to physicians than ever before, such as:
- Lab results
- Insurance coverage
- Patient’s medical histories
- Recommended treatment options
Patient care is directly improved where qualified EHRs can provide information in previously unavailable formats. Physicians can print and view values and graphs pertaining toweight, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, etc.
and better keeptrack of changes. This directly improves communication and relationships between family physicianswith medical notes and consultation letter templates provided by EHR’s.
EHR can provide alerts to remind providers when certain prevention measures are due or out of date. Short and long term treatment goals can also be provided by EHRs. This results in better patient care which the patients themselves
can track and appreciate.
Clinical decision support also significantly improves patient care, especially in emergency departments. Clinical decision supportcan be integrated into EHR systems to help providers make decisions about treatments and overall
courses of action for their patients. It can present the latest information on a drug and even advise on patient allergies. EHR equipped with clinical decision support and computer physician order entries reduce clinical
errors and increaseefficiency, which was previously unattainable.
References:
D.W. Bates et al., “Effect of Computerized Physician Order Entry and a Team Intervention on Prevention of Serious Medication Errors,” Journal of the American Medical Association 280, no. 15 (1999): 1311–1316.
Adler-Milstein J, Salzberg C, Franz C, Orav EJ, Newhouse JP, Bates DW. Effect of Electronic Health Records on Health Care Costs: Longitudinal Comparative Evidence From Community Practices. Ann Intern Med. 2013;159:97-104. doi:
10.7326/0003-4819-159-2-201307160-00004