Information technology has improved the healthcare system especially with the use of EMR’s, since the use of them helps improve interoperability thus helping patients with continuation of care, providing information to other providers across different systems. Long gone are the days when we write notes by hand and orders are placed in patients charts with illegible handwriting. In 2009 President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which Includes the Health Information and Technology Economic Clinical Health Act which rewarded providers that used EHRs and penalized the ones that did not use it which prevented the patient’s continuity of care in the healthcare settings. (Sweeney 2017).
The benefit of using health technology is especially beneficial when collecting data to improve certain markers for instance falls. Falls in my healthcare setting has improved since the gathering of information as to why patients fall, and who is the population that tends to fall more often, and how to prevent them from falling in the first place. Data indicated that usually these are patients who are 65 and older on blood pressure medication and blood thinners are the ones that tend to fall, this data was gathered from fall assessments and patient’s EHRs, so the hospital decided to invest in what they call low beds and remote monitored cameras which observes patients that are confused and at risk for falling, the low bed improves the risk of injuries and the camera prevents the fall by redirecting patients at risk for falls. Without these the hospital will encounter a great financial burden with patients falls with injuries, since if a patient fractures or hurts themselves the insurance company will not pay for the injury it is the institution sole responsibility.
Having information technology is more of a benefit than a burden, since it improves communication for not only patients who have instant access to their medical records providing them with the autonomy of their information, but it also shows great evidence-based practice that it helps with communication from one provider to other providers thus improving patient care across a multidisciplinary setting. Nurses also benefit from information technology since data is stored and they are able to actually see patients’ information from different encounters both inpatient and outpatient. The ANA identifies nursing informatics as “a specialty that integrates, nursing, science, computer science, information science to communicate data, information and knowledge in nursing practice.” (ANA, 2001, pg.17).
Reference:
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2022). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (5th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Public Health Informatics Institute. (2017). Public Health Informatics: “translating” knowledge for health Links to an external site. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLUygA8Hpfo
Sweeney, J. (2017). Online Journal of Nursing Informatics, 21(1). Retrieved November 29, 2022.
