Electronic Health Records in the Nursing Practice

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Annotated Bibliography
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Since the end of the 20th century, the notion of technology has become closely associated with people’s lifestyles and worldviews. As a result, the medical paradigm, as an essential contributor to human existence, had to find the appropriate ways to adjust to the age of technological advancements and implement innovations into the health care system. Hence, the primary goal of this bibliography is to analyze peer-reviewed academic content considering a technology relevant to the nursing profession advancement.

The topic chosen for this research is the implementation of electronic health records in the nursing practice and its influence on patient outcomes. In order to find appropriate resources for the analysis, I addressed Google Scholar as a primary database of academic articles. Having found references to such analytical and information sources as Elsevier, I used the platform to extend the research. For the sake of more specialized information, I searched the notion of electronic health records with such clarifications as “nursing practice,” “patient safety,” and “patient outcome.” Hence, the scholarly articles selected for the analysis concerned the specifics of safety, application to the cardiovascular disease segment, patient outcome, and use efficacy in nursing.

Annotated Bibliography

Cowie, M. R., Blomster, J. I., Curtis, L. H., Duclaux, S., Ford, I., Fritz, F., Goldman, S., Janmohamed, S., Kreuzer, J., Leenay, M., Michel, A., Ong, S., Pell, J. P., Southworth, M. R., Stough, W. G., Thoenes, M., Zannad, F., & Zalewski, A. (2017). Electronic health records to facilitate clinical research. Clinical Research in Cardiology, 106, 1-9.

The present research paper is primarily focused on the peculiarities of implementing electronic health records (EHR) data into the field of clinical research on cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, the researchers were interested in the phenomenon of EHR in the overall context of clinical research due to the technology’s ambivalent perception among professionals. Hence, in the process of systemic literature review, the authors outlined a hypothesis that extensive use of EHR databases in the field of cardiology research might be of paramount benefit in terms of efficiency of sample selection and empirical data systematization, namely:

The issue of recruitment;
The burden of primary data collection;
Uncertain generalizability (Cowie et al., 2017).

Hence, in order to find the justification for the hypothesis, the researchers outlined some of the most widely used specializations for the EHR implementation and compared them to the requirements for proper clinical research. The results of the review estimated that the implementation of the EHR indeed had a chance of securing beneficial results for the clinical research in cardiology. Still, the primary issue of technology adoption was the notion of security ns privacy, as those issues had always been the most challenging aspects of EHR introduction to the practice. Thus, the aforementioned paper was chosen for annotation due to its explicit clarification of the technology’s benefits (time efficiency) and drawbacks (privacy). The work also demonstrates the difference in EHR perception, as clinical research paradigm perceives the database as a cost-efficient way to conduct research, whereas its implementation to the medical practice seems like a costly endeavor. The relevance to the work of interdisciplinary health care teams is presented in the form of long-term efficiency benefits, including advancements in clinical research and more time dedicated to direct patient care.

Kruse, C. S., Smith, B., Vanderlinden, H., & Nealand, A. (2017). Security techniques for the electronic health records. Journal of Medical Systems, 41(127).

The primary goal of the presented article was to identify the most efficient strategies of EHR data protection in the era of cyber vulnerability through the means of a systematic review. The authors of the article were initially motivated by the issue of nescience in terms of the existing security techniques applicable to the sphere of medical records. Thus, the following scholarly research was chosen because it tackled one of the severest obstacles in the way towards embracing EHR as a primary medical database. Throughout the research, the authors analyzed 25 empirical studies on the subject of applying particular security techniques to the EHR system installed on medical premises. The results of the research suggested that there was no ultimate security tool that would be considered as the most relevant. The major positive contribution of the study concerned the outline the division of security safeguard themes, meaning the aspects of data protection that should be considered separately in order to secure a proper outcome, namely:

Administrative;
Technological;
Physical.

The research has also estimated the extent to which medical administration relies on technical safeguards, claiming the concept to be the most meaningful in the security context. The reliance rates constituted more than 40%, creating the demand for quality cybersecurity software. Thus, the two major strategies for technology protection were the installment of proper firewalls, or cybersecurity networks, and cryptography (Kruse et al., 2017). It may be concluded that the article is relevant to the field of nursing and interdisciplinary practice due to the fact that practitioners dealing with sensitive data serve as advocates for people’s privacy and anonymity. Moreover, the aforementioned article emphasizes the issue of patient safety in the context of the chosen technology, making it empirical to look into the question during further research.

Wani, D., & Malhotra, M. (2018). Does the meaningful use of electronic health records improve patient outcomes? Journal of Operations Management, 60, 1-18.

The present research study is arguably the most profound as far as the technology’s direct impact is concerned. Hence, the primary focus of the study was placed on the extent to which the implementation of the EHR contributed to the patients’ well-being and health state. In order to define the most relevant variable for the study, the authors decided to measure the patient outcome improvement with the help of the quantitative indicator of the stay length. According to the researchers, previously, there was no explicit evidence stating the positive correlation between the EHR implementation and patients’ health and well-being (Wani & Malhotra, 2018). Thus, for the sake of objectivity, the authors decided to analyze the correlation through three major types of medical facilities:

The ones that adopted EHR partially;
The ones that adopted EHR fully;
The ones that secured meaningful assimilation of the EHR.

The difference between the last two types concerned the extent to which medical practitioners incorporated EHR use into their professional routine. The meaningful assimilation here meant the process of full-scale embracement of electronic databases aimed at enhancing the practitioners’ ability to spend more time with patients. The tendency of assimilation is considered relatively new due to the fact that previously, medical administrators were sure that transition required serious financial investments, However, over the past years, public initiatives helped resolve the issue by investing money in projects related to EHR adoption. The results of the empirical research revealed the average length of stay for the patients in the third-type facilities reduced by approximately 3% (Wani & Malhotra, 2018). Hence, it may be concluded that the aforementioned study serves as a full-scale piece of evidence claiming the EHR’s relevance to the process of medical treatment and patient outcome.

Karp, E. L., Freeman, R., Simpson, K. N., & Simpson, A. N. (2019). Changes in efficiency and quality of nursing electronic health record documentation after implementation of an admission patient history essential dataset. Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 37(5), 260-265.

The present research paper was chosen due to its direct application to the field of nursing and its perception of EHR in the workplace. Indeed, the process of EHR adoption requires both money and time to become more relevant than the conventional way of collecting patients’ data. Moreover, according to Karp et al. (2019), without meaningful training, nurses tend to spend even more time filling out unnecessary information in the database. In order to examine the issue, researchers decided to conduct an empirical study during which they asked the nurses to define the basic questions that should be included in the patient admission form. Based on the specifics outlined, the nurses were then educated on the matter of using the EHR databases and inserting essential information only. The study results revealed that reducing the amount of information required in the admission form, along with proper training programs, contributed to nurses’ ability to spend less time on documentation and focus on the patients instead. Hence, it may be concluded that the process of EHR implementation is beneficial for the patterns of professional nursing practice.

Conclusion

Considering the data outlined from the articles below, it may be outlined that such technology as electronic health records (EHR) appears to be rather controversial in the field of nursing and medical practice in general. Thus, while EHR provides practitioners with a variety of benefits, including time efficiency and accessibility, the technology only works when implemented mindfully. In cases when introduced properly to the facility’s framework, EHR guarantees improved patient outcomes, employee satisfaction, team productivity, and high levels of patient satisfaction due to frequent communication with nurses. Speaking of the organizational factors influencing the technology selection, the resources for proper installation and education may be outlined as the most important. Hence, one may reach a conclusion that EHR as a technological tool serves as an asset for the medical setting when embraced to its maximum extent.

References

Kruse, C. S., Smith, B., Vanderlinden, H., & Nealand, A. (2017). Security techniques for the electronic health records. Journal of Medical Systems, 41(127).

Wani, D., & Malhotra, M. (2018). Does the meaningful use of electronic health records improve patient outcomes?Journal of Operations Management, 60, 1-18.

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Electronic Health Records in the Nursing Practice

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