NUT1 Task 2
A. Increase in Quality of Care
Electronic Medical Records (EMR) can increase quality of care in many ways. Unlike paper records, EMR is available to multiple members of the healthcare team in different locations, all at the same time. EMR makes it easy for caregivers to have all of a new patient’s previous visit information at their fingertips, which can help with obtaining a more accurate history upon admission. An accurate history will help caregivers make better decisions when planning a patient’s care.
Because records are stored in a database instead of on paper, they are safe from natural disasters, forgery, loss, or damage. Many, many years of records can be stored in a relatively small space, which will negate the need for rows and rows of filing cabinets, and microfiche. This makes them easier to manage and retrieve. Less paper also means neater workspaces and better organization in the workplace, and because records are available on the database from multiple locations, the need for faxing or mailing records is decreased, increasing security.
EMR can also be used to collect data for Quality Improvement processes, and an EMR system can have pop-up alerts built in to notify caregivers of best practices, allergies, and drug interactions. EMR’s that also have a medication bar code scanning system built in will help to reduce med errors by alerting nurses to wrong patient/wrong dose/ wrong time errors.
Electronic Medical Records can reduce patient’s wait times, because it wouldn’t be necessary to wait for the medical records department to pull an old chart and deliver to the caregiver’s office or department.
Prescriptions can be entered and printed through the EMR system, eliminating errors due to illegibility of written prescriptions. Because prescriptions are printed on special tamper-proof paper, the risk of forgery is also decreased.