Solving Problems in Nursing |
Posted: November 18, 2018 |
Nursing functions are essential to patient care; however, nurses face various challenges in patient care delivery. The large amount of paperwork required to record patient details, medical diagnosis, procedures, tests, and treatment protocols makes nursing functions tedious, time consuming, and costly. It takes nurses much time and effort to ensure that patient information is captured promptly and transmitted to the relevant medical units such as radiology, laboratories, pharmacies, and administration units. Though nurses and clinicians have adapted to the traditional paperwork routine, they often compromise the quality and timely provision of health care services. The development and implementation of hand-held electronic health care records would significantly reduce the amount of time spent on the paperwork, therefore, reducing operational costs and improving nursing efficiency and effectiveness given that more time is spent on taking care of the patient. Additionally, patient data would be up-to-date, hence eliminating the probability of errors as a consequence of outdated patient information. Analysis While other medical professionals offer critical health care services to patients, it is evident that nurses spend a significant amount of time taking care of patients. Consequently, they handle, interpret, and execute functions related to patient data represented in various health care forms and records (Kelly, Brandon, & Docherty, 2011). The problem of time and resource inefficiency, as a consequence of large volumes of paperwork that nurses have to deal with, can be easily mitigated through the development and implementation of hand-held electronic health care record devices. The modern health care industry has significantly adopted technological innovations in an attempt to improve service delivery, optimally manage resources, and perform medical procedures. Significant health care systems such as patient management, diagnostic systems, and medical equipment have continued to adopt technology in improving their functions. However, the patient data capture and dissemination process continues to rely significantly on the traditional paperwork approach. The integration of health care systems is critical to ensure sufficient and prompt communication between health care functions in a hospital (Jha et al., 2009). For instance, once patients are admitted, their information can be easily accessible by the management, clinical, and nursing functions, hence making the patient information up-to-date and easily accessible by the relevant parties. Nurses do most of the paperwork while taking care of patients including documentation, communication with relevant clinicians, and provision of data where and when needed (Kelly, Brandon, & Docherty, 2011). The adoption of integrated health care systems and networking is critical to efficient and qualitative patient care because information can be captured at source and transmitted to a centralized server that updates interactive voice and touch electronic health record devices such as iPads. Documentation of a patient’s health care process from admission to discharge requires capturing significant amounts of patient data. The documentation process continues as care is provided where numerous records are kept and constantly updated. Significant challenges are caused by the manual process of suing paperwork; for instance, records can be lost or errors incurred in the process of capturing data leading to misdiagnosis or administration of a wrong treatment (West Health Institute, 2013). These problems occur since nurses have numerous tasks to oversee and execute, such as dose delivery, assisting doctors in surgeries, cleaning and dressing patients, updating patient information, frequently monitoring patients, and performing vital procedures among others (Kelly, Brandon, & Docherty, 2011). However, the development of a hand-held health care record device will not only facilitate in the prompt, accurate, and efficient data capture, but also provide a centralized source of all the information pertaining to a given patient at a glance. The information that could be potentially captured by a hand-held electronic health record device includes patient admission details, diagnosis, test results such as radiology or laboratory results, treatment protocols, charts, and therapy schedules. This automated system will not only reduce the time spent on capturing patient information, but will also save operational costs significantly (West Health Institute, 2013). Furthermore, nurses will be able to function without being hindered by various tedious tasks, such as updating patient charts manually or capturing patient information in various forms, which will increase the bulk of their work (Jha et al., 2009). Most health care institutions have computerized systems; however, these systems are not centralized or integrated so that data from one department can be accessed in a terminal at another department. Therefore, the resources required to implement a functional hand-held electronic health care record device would entail the installation of an integrated centralized computer server. This system would be integrated with the pre-existing information and health care systems. For instance, the central server would be connected to the admissions and credit management system, laboratory systems, diagnostic systems, real-time patient monitoring systems, and therapy administration systems. These systems may vary depending on the nature and extent of healthcare services being provided. However, the centralized system would be calibrated to connect to all systems in the health care facility (Jha et al., 2009). Additionally, a wireless network is essential in ensuring that hand-held electronic health care record devices are updated in real-time. As such, the hand-held electronic health care records would be updated in real-time by various sections of the hospital such as admissions, laboratory, theatre or wards. The updated information can be input by various medical professionals including physicians who update patient diagnosis and treatment therapies, which nurses in turn are able to handle without the inhibition of tedious procedures and paperwork. According to a study conducted by the West Health Institute, the implementation of electronic health care record devices could result in potential savings amounting to over $ 30 billion annually and subsequent improvement in health care and safety for patients (West Health Institute, 2013). These savings would be derived from incremental treatment capacities as a consequence of the minimized length of stay, prevention of redundant testing, increased productivity for nurses and clinicians as a result of minimized time spent on inputting data manually into electronic health care records, and decline in adverse events thanks to “safety interlocks” (West Health Institute, 2013). Furthermore, the potential savings in operational costs for healthcare providers and time savings in service delivery are critical to patients who cannot afford to wait in queues filling forms. The West Health Institute cited a recent study conducted by HIMSS Analytics that indicated that over 90% of healthcare institutions in the United States use various types of devices that can be integrated with electronic health records (West Health Institute, 2013). These include electrocardiographs, defibrillators, infusion pumps and ventilators, and vital signs monitors. However, only 33% of health care institutions integrate any of their medical devices with electronic health records (West Health Institute, 2013). In a study conducted by Dr. Jha and others, it was found that the level of electronic health care records adoption in US hospitals was low; however, significant functions that form the basis of electronic records systems have been comprehensively implemented (Jha et al., 2009). A significant number of hospitals have indicated that radiologic images and reports, laboratory reports, medication lists, and various decision-support functions have been developed in electronic formats. Furthermore, others indicated that they planned information systems upgrade to electronic records systems through the addition of functionalities such as nursing assessments, provider-order entries, and physicians’ notes (Jha et al., 2009). These studies indicate the significance of electronic health care records in the delivery of patient care. The development of hand-held electronic health care record devices for nurses and other medical professionals would be a significant step towards the improvement of qualitative and cost effective patient care. Conclusion The manual patient data capture and recording system in most health care facilities has resulted in a tedious, time-consuming, and costly health care service delivery. Nurses bear a significant number of tasks involved in patient care; therefore, they suffer the consequences of manual paperwork and data capture. As a result, nurses provide patient care when they are exhausted and pressed for time; therefore, errors and oversight are inevitable. However, this problem can be solved through the development and implementation of electronic health care record policy which ensures the provision of hand-held electronic health care record devices. These devices will facilitate real-time updating of patient information and create easily referenced health records so that nurses can track information on patients between shifts without the impediment of the large amount of paperwork. This will result in improved nurse efficiency and effectiveness in the execution of their respective duties and improved patient care services. Additionally, health care providers will reduce operational costs involved in repetitive paperwork, nursing errors, and wasted time. References Jha, A. K., DesRoches, C. M., Campbell, E., Donelan, K., Rao, S. R., Ferris, T. G., & Blumenthal, D. (2009). Use of electronic health records in U.S. hospitals. N Engl J Med, 360, 1628-1638. Retrieved from http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa0900592#t=article Kelly, T. F., Brandon, D. H., & Docherty, S. L. (2011). Electronic nursing documentation as a strategy to improve quality of patient care. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 43(2), 154-162. West Health Institute. (2013). Improving patient care with more than $30 billion in annual health care savings. Retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/wwhi.org/interop/WHI-The_Value_of_Medical_Device_Interoperability.pdf
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