Data Gathering and Clinical Outcome

Hello, it is true that gathering patient data has a positive effect on their outcome. Through the EHRs, accurate documentation is guaranteed. However, it is of essence to warrant the privacy and safety of health information to create the trust needed to realize the advantages of electronic health information exchange (Samadbeik, Gorzin, Khoshkam & Roudbari, 2015). Typically, patients come out clear and give full information regarding their illness and personal information. However, poor handling of user names and passwords by nurses in accessing patient data breaches data security. Hence, there is a need to ensure that access to servers is done by authorized individuals, together with ensuring sporadic security updates (Samadbeik, Gorzin, Khoshkam & Roudbari, 2015). Computer firms, hospitals information technology specialists, and stakeholders get worried of security necessities of EHR systems and the nursing electronic documentation systems (Samadbeik, Gorzin, Khoshkam & Roudbari, 2015). Thus, prioritizing the requirements enables policymakers to choose what to do when scheduling for EHR execution. This is in line with the view you put across that it is important to utilize proper security tools to prevent exposure of patient data. 

Despite Americans’ concern about the privacy of medical records, majority of them know the benefits of electronic records and have confidence that they offset the privacy concerns. They are usually enthusiastic to benefit from EHRs. For example, the use of electronic medical records advances the quality of care by lowering the number of redundant or pointless tests and processes, as well as reducing medical errors and healthcare costs. Additionally, the ability to share patient information by healthcare providers leads to better care. Furthermore, the electronic sharing of information becomes vital as patients age. This is because it becomes difficult for them to recall the pertinent information for a given provider. As such, as you designated, moving from paper medical records to electronic health records has ensured better communication and patient outcomes. 

Reference 

Samadbeik, M., Gorzin, Z., Khoshkam, M., & Roudbari, M. (2015). Managing the Security of Nursing Data in the Electronic Health Record.  Acta Informatica Medica, 23 (1), 39. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25870490