week 4 reply classmate-
The main goal of having an EHR is to improve the quality and safety of patient care (Hebda et al. 2018). More hospitals are turning to EHRs because it's a smoother flow of care and recording without compromising patient privacy. Other benefits include: “improving the accuracy and completeness of patient health information; increasing the speed at which care is provided; enhancing the coordination of care; and increasing transparency of health information for patients and their families, flag potentially dangerous drug interactions, verify medications, and reduce the needs for risky tests and procedures (Hebda et al. 2018).” In this scenario, the patient's PHR is limited because tests were outsourced versus being conducted all at the same facility. This can make patients question their diagnosis especially if they don't have all the information available to them. PHRs allow patients to be involved in the healthcare, however for some it may not be entirely user friendly which can hinder their understanding of the medical care. Additionally, not all patients have the level of technology available to them, whether it be a smartphone, laptop, or tablet, and therefore have limited access to their records. It has definitely been a major step forward in the medical field, and there is always room for improvements. Patients also need to understand the risks of safeguarding their personal information and how to protect their records from being accessed by non approved personnel. Both systems do provide results in real time and therefore both patient and provider can access and discuss already performed tests as well as prepare for future testing, thus ensuring they are both in line with the same goals. To ensure PHR protection, the user creates their own login and password. They are then responsible for keeping both of those safe.
I am glad that patients have access to a PHR. I think it's helps provide understanding to their care and allows them to research and identify questions concerning their medical treatments. We oftentimes find that patients can be a little too research happy and find the 1% side affect that they are afraid might happen to them, and can cause a pause in their treatment. I do enjoy being able to discuss with my patients their results and answer questions on a nursing level, but most of the questions are referenced towards the provider. In this case, I feel like the patient could be frustrated because they don't have access to all the information, but that doesn't mean it's not attainable, just a little more difficult and a little more time consuming to put it all together.
References:
Hebda, T., Hunter, K., & Czar, P. (2018).
Handbook of Informatics for Nurses & Healthcare Professionals. (6th ed.). Pearson Learning Solutions
Kruse, C. S., Smith, B., Vanderlinden, H., & Nealand, A. (2017). Security Techniques for the Electronic Health Records.
Journal of medical systems,
41(8), 127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-017-0778-4
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5522514/
Links to an external site.
