...Use of Information Technology to Improve Patient Safety and Quality of Nursing Care Introduction We are in a great evolution in the way we are gathering data, gaining information, and increasing our knowledge to provide our patients’ with safe quality care. Without information technology (IT) in today’s healthcare industry, it would be impossible to delivery high quality care. The purpose of this paper is to explore data accuracy & safety, data integrity, and the contributions of IT. Data Accuracy and Safety One of the biggest obstacles to interoperability among information systems is the vast amount of medical terms used to describe the same concept. One strategy that is being implemented in IT to increase data accuracy and safety is to ensure that all electronic health records (EHRs) in all hospitals share common standards for data, classifications, coding systems (Qamar, R., Kola, J.S., & Rector, A.L., 2007). The aim is to standardize medical vocabulary to reduce differing interpretation of information and errors resulting from the traditional paper records. This is an accomplishment that groups have been working on for the last decade. The health IT Standards committee has endorsed a single set of vocabulary standards and a single guide for putting them in place for each area of quality reporting measures (Mosquera, 2011). Two work groups, The Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT) and The Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes...
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...spend lots of time trying to start lines on patient who have compromise vascular system. The, nurses and doctors identified the problems concerning intravenous access, and did research, and they found other hospitals were using Intraosseous Infusion System and introduce this procedure to the CEO. Policy analysts use different methods to assess a problem and determine alternatives ways to resolve it (Mason, J.D., Leavitt, K. J., Chaffee, M. W. pg. 5). A policy was adopted from other hospitals, formulated, implemented. Evaluation of the policy is now in effect as of march two-thousand and thirteen. Policy analysts are individuals who with professional training and experience, analyze problems and weigh potential solutions (Mason, J.D., Leavitt, K. J., Chaffee, M. W. pg. 5). All staff was educated through the nurse educators on the intraosseous vascular access. Intraosseous vascular access is safe, costs effective and for patients in the hospital setting. Using the EZ- Intraosseous Infusion System is a complete solution for immediate vascular access — whether you’re facing difficult vascular access challenges or need immediate intraosseous access for critical situations and life-threatening emergencies. The procedure is followed by all physicians/AHPs, registered nurses, and support staff that has met established competency criteria to perform these procedures when using an intraosseous device to obtain venous access in a patient as an alternative to failed intravenous access...
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...Future Trends in Health Care Schell D. Caradine HCS 533 March 3, 2014 Suzanne Paone Future Trends in Health Care Long ago patients relied on their doctor to provide them with information about his or her health condition. The patient took what the doctor told him or her at face value. When doctors began to implement computer systems in their offices, they would print off medical information for the patient to take home to read in order to have a better understanding of the diagnosis given by the doctor. Most times the doctor will have pamphlets that he or she provided to the patient. However, that is mostly a thing of the past. Patients are already armed with tons of information they obtained from the internet. Health care has changed drastically over the years. Advancements in technology played and continue to play a huge role in the ever-evolving delivery of health care. The internet empowers patients in many ways. Sites such as the Mayo clinic allows patients to research their symptoms and even find a specialist. Many health care organizations have patient portals that allow the patient to book appointments and communicate with their physician. However, it is not just patients who use the Internet for health care purposes. Health care organizations use websites and social media such as Facebook to connect with a large demographic of potential patients. Health care organizations can advertise new treatment programs they have available by using Twitter,...
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...An easy way to improve access to health care is by using technology. The advances in technology these days are amazing and incredibly helpful in the medical and health care field. These advances in technology can be linked to the fact that our life expectancy in the United States is increasing, along with many other good medical outcomes. There are many examples of technology that improves access to health care and quality of that care. Technology can be helpful to patients and providers. Any downfalls associated with technology and improving access to health care, do not outweigh the benefits that come from technology in health care. Technology has the ability to improve access to health care not only in the United States, but also on a global...
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...have learned that the use of informatics is not only beneficial for health care team patients and their families but also and the community. The use informatics in nursing is so vital in every day work. As a nursing assistant for many years I have seen that without informatics and technology health system would not be as successful as it is today. Informatics technology improves communication among health care providers, research, documentation, diagnosis, treatment, education and error reduction in health care settings. With the constant stress in health care setting it would have been more stressful for nurses to...
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...Medical Technology and U.S. Health Care Medical Technology and U.S. Health Care Over the course of history, medical technology has continued to evolve in more ways than one. The advancements in surgical procedures, imaging techniques and the use of computer technology has allowed for patients to receive health care in a more convenient and efficient way, but with this convenience and the ever evolving technology comes the burden of cost on the U.S. economy. This paper will review how early medicinal practices have evolved into the technologically advanced world of medicine we live in today, as well as discuss how these advancements play a role in the accessibility, affordability and quality of life and care the patients of the United States receive today. In the early 1800’s, medicinal practice in the U.S. was considered to be very primitive. Unlike the European countries of Britain, France and Germany, “American medicine lagged behind in the advances of medical science, experimental research and medical science education” (Shi & Singh, 2008 p. 85). Instead, America focused more on applied science rather than the research of basic sciences. In return, the United States’ “early practices of medicine were regarded more as a trade than a profession. It did not require the rigorous course of study, clinical practice, residency training, board exams and licensing, without which it is impossible to practice today” (Shi & Singh, 2008 p.85). This meant that pretty much...
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...Future Trends in Health Care Future Trends in Health Care Health care industry have experienced and still experiencing increase in advancement of technology, there have been advancement in patients’ treatment, deliver of quality care, and hospital equipment. Through advanced technologies, health care boundaries have been push to enhanced integration of health care information. Health care information integration has been critical to the effectiveness of fragmentation of health care system. How Internet or any new forms of electronic communication can be used as an external delivery source in communicating patient-specific information and the impact of distance delivery on health care will be evaluate in this paper. Also consideration will be given to the use of e-mail, telemedicine, and electronic transfer of records and assessment of how these issues affect health care today and how they may impact health care five years from now will be discusses in this paper. Assessment of Internet and how it may be used in communicating patient specific information externally Internet service was used by U.S. Defense Department and researchers initially, but presently, Internet is available also to health care providers and patients enabling them to have access to worldwide library health care resources and patient specific health information. There have been an increases in the popularity in utilizing Internet and other forms of electronic communication...
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...advancement has allowed care givers to use devices such as personal cellular devices, pervasive sensing technologies, and social networks, to deliver health care from providers to clients. There are certain effects of using mobile technology blood pressure monitoring, checking glucose level, oxygen level and heart rate, etc. Monitoring Patient Vital Signs via Mobile Computing Versus In-Patient Visits Vital signs are key indicators of a patient overall health status. We are at a point in time where temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, glucose levels, oxygen levels, and respiratory rates can now be taken via mobile technology. There was a time when patients had to travel to the doctor’s office or other health care facilities in order to have these vital tests done. It was also the norm to have a health care provider doing these tests in person and writing down the results. These results were input into a chart or a computer system by the provider who took them. Sometimes it was documented right away or hours later when time allow. Mistakes were also a factor because the health care provider input the wrong information and this sometimes impacted the patience in a negative way. With the introduction of technology in health care, patient stats can be a lot more accurate and yield a better outcome. The use of smart phones and wireless technology devices has allowed patients to monitor vital signs and upload this information to their health care provider’s information...
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...management that could occur within my organization. In depth, the research would evaluate patients’ healthcare and whether it is provided in an accurate and professional manner. To gather facts and information about the management in hospital, this research would follow up various steps. First, the research would evaluate how healthcare providers administer medical care and whether or not patients receive adequate support that boosts their well-being. Second, the study would evaluate whether the care provided in the hospital aligns with the medical standards. Conducting this research would create a strong platform to understand the past and present management and further work hard to eliminate any activity, condition, or medical errors that would hinder quality healthcare. Research Questions It is a well-documented fact that, quality medical care is of essence in reducing high mortality rates that occur as a result of poor medication and services provided (Flores, Win & Susilo, 2010). With this in mind, this research would investigate various factors that hinder healthcare providers from administering quality healthcare. To fully gather facts and information, this research would answer the following questions; do patients receive quality care and what attributes to poor medical errors. I would investigate further areas in the hospital that require immediate intervention to achieve quality care. Data I Would Require to Collect In order to achieve a broad analysis, this study would...
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...Running head: Future trends in Health Care Future trends in Health Care HCS 533 April 23, 2012 Robert Ropnow PH.D. The findings of a review of trends in health care delivery that are associated with innovations in electronic communications are topic of discussion in this paper. The review focuses on four specific issues. The first issue concerned the ways in which electronic communications may be applied effectively as an external delivery mechanism in the communication of patient-specific information. The second issue centered on the impact of distance-delivery on the effectiveness of health care. The third issue involved a determination of the effects that the use of electronic communications have on health care delivery today. The fourth issue required a projection of the likely affects that the continued use of electronic communications will have on health care delivery. These interrelated issues are addressed in separate discussions in this paper. The Ways in which Electronic Communications May Be Applied Effectively as an External Delivery Mechanism in the Communication of Patient-Specific Information When considering the ways in which electronic communications may be applied effectively as an external delivery mechanism in the communication of patient-specific information, it is useful to first (a) identify the parties who will likely be involved...
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...Introduction Telenursing uses the technology for the nurses to do follow-up care with patients. The modern approach of follow-up care comforts the patient. Telenursing, the use of technology to allow nursing from a geographic distance, is used in many different settings including hospitals, home care, and other health related facilities. Telenursing is communicated via many different devices of technology. These are many different advantages in using telenursing rather than disadvantages. There are many different organizations involved in developing telenursing. Topic Availability This topic I chose was based on need of patient care. Our hospital is doing follow-up phone calls weekly to Congestive Heart Failure patients in order to reduce within thirty day of readmission. This phenomenon became interesting to understand how many places use tele communication. Doing the research, I discovered many different types of tele communications were available to community along with hospital setting. In searching for references, I started with wiki, google, scholarly journal, and blog but limited to scholarly journal only. As a professional nurse, I found that scholarly journal were more reliable and pertain to nursing. Also, scholarly journal talks about nursing informatics in how they use technology to assist in nursing care on continuum of patient care. The process used to locate source of information was Thomas Edison State College online library access. The keyword...
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...Nurse Informatics Shannon S Goff Western Governors University Nursing Assignment The technology necessary to meet the federally mandated requirements which will affect the merged healthcare organizations. Electronic health records with satellite facilities supported by remote technology. Electronic health records emerged as one of the most relevant topics in health care; EHRs are central in the strategy of federal government to transform health care providing in the U.S. (Henricks, 2011). Federal actions are promoting EHR in order to guarantee important implications for nursing practices. The technology implies also payment penalties for those providers who do not manage to meet the requirements of EHRs use. EHR technology has to be certified according to technical and functional criteria that are set forth by the government. The using of EHR technology is significantly important for laboratories (Henricks, 2011) since the certification criteria of EHR have to be related directly to laboratory testing or laboratory management. Federal government identified the goals for improving healthcare and EHRs are central for these goals. EHRs with satellite facilities aims at the following points, it should: * improve safety, efficiency, and quality of public healthcare and reduce people's health disparities; * engage the patients and their families in healthcare services; * improve healthcare coordination; * improve public health and population in general; ...
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...Decisions in Health Care In this paper the role of technology in decision making is presented and systems and informatics theories are discussed followed by the DIK Model, and the role of expert system in nursing care and medicine. Furthermore, the use of decision aids and decision support systems are presented in correlation with the uses of technology for patient and client management, and the paper is concluded with an analysis of the effect of technology on health care and health status. Medical technology has major effects on health care decision making at the patient-physician interaction, community-health care institution, and the society-national government levels. Informatics and the development of what are known as tele-health/telemedicine have a variety of innovative uses to facilitate the decisions of health care professionals across the world. Some of these innovative uses are the ability to provide remote consultations among professionals outside of their facility, the ability to diagnosis and assess various disease states, the ability to access patients, and their medical histories, and the ability to prescribe medications and therapies. Many health care organizations are working to implement or upgrade their information systems. Hospitals are hiring information technology specialists to set up Intranets designed for the sharing of information among health care professionals, and is using public networks in the distribution of health-related information...
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...Health and Medical Record in Home Health Nathaniel J. Reid University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee HCA: 700 Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine the electronic health record (EHR) and electronic medical record (EMR) in the home health setting in the United States. “EHR” and “EMR” are often used interchangeably. However, this paper will discuss the differences between an EHR and an EMR. It will cover the benefits and disadvantages of the EMR in the home health setting. This paper will also cover the potential costs associated with the use of the EMR in the home health setting. Finally, the paper will discuss the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of an EMR in home health. Outline I. Introduction a. Purpose b. Explanation of terms II. Background a. Home Health Care i. What is it ii. History iii. How it is changing b. Health Informatics in Home Healthcare i. History of informatics in HHC ii. Current use of informatics in HHC iii. Benefits of informatics in HHC III. Comparison of EMR/EHR a. Definitions b. Settings used c. Differences d. Similarities IV. Implementation of the EMR in Home Health a. Feasibility b. Cost c. Equipment d. Staff Acceptance V. Conclusion a. Summary of benefits/disadvantages ...
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...Quality of Care Ottawa University Abstract Assessing and improving quality health care in the United States is a high priority in this day and age of health care. As health care providers we have an obligation to serve as leaders and visionaries and actively demonstrate and document the advances to patient-centered care. Many agencies and organizations have developed initiatives to advance patient care through quality improvement measures and patient safety programs. Evaluating quality health care is important for consumer, providers and society. Developing a quality measure of health care is an important objective for organizations that value health care quality. Improving Quality of Care The continuing growth of technology in healthcare is ground breaking at this time. With the advancements in technology and health care, there has become a rift between providers and patients. Patients want the best quality care from the health care system. Despite this justifiably positive view that, overall, quality of care is high in this country, many factors point to the fact that the quality of care is declining. It is believed that patient-physician relationships are not as strong as they once were, causing distrust and uncertainty. The health care field is ever changing and health care providers need to stay current on those changes, both now and in the future. Quality patient care will greatly remain impacted from the health care provider shortages and in return patient satisfaction...
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