The concept of electronic medical records (EMR) in the USA is mainly predicated on The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. Under ARRA, all hospitals in the USA should have made the complete shift from manual records to EMR by 2015. To effectuate ARRA and rely only on EMR, all available records had to be updated into an online platform and all the healthcare officers including nurses had to develop proficiency in the use of computers (Barret, 2018). EMR is not only necessary but also critical in nursing inter alia due to the positive patient and practice outcomes that it produces. Proper records and ease of access for records are critical for effective caregiving and also help reduce clinical and caregiving errors (Adler-Milstein et al., 2015). It is this transition that has come to be referred to as the electronic medical record conversion. It is, however, important to notice that although EMR mitigates on human-based errors, it also has a propensity for errors but with proper use, general error rates in caregiving can be extenuated (Rathert et al., 2019).
Electronic medical record conversion is definitively an organizational change process and, therefore, has had to face the normal challenges associated with organizational change that demanding innovative leadership skills to manage. Among the causes of resistance include the need for nurses to undergo extra training so as to handle the specialized programs used in EMR and also the extra work occasioned by the use of EMR, upon nursing officers who already face a massive workload.
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Part 2: Importance of the Research
This research is critical for nursing leadership due to the nature of EMR and electronic medical record conversion as well as the complexity of the implementation process (Adler-Milstein et al., 2015). EMR creates a singular system that is used contemporaneously by the different professionals that operate within healthcare institutions. Differences based on professional differences are a major bearing factor for Electronic medical record conversion. The EMR system will normally be fed with data by the different professionals involved in the healthcare sector including nurses APRNs, physicians, technicians, and specialists. Research is thus important for the leader to establish how to mitigate the conflict caused by data-feeding variances between these professionals.
Secondly, the conversion creates a propensity for error, yet even a minuscule error can be a matter of life and death for the patient. As outlined above, although EMR plays the role of reducing human error, it also has the potential for creating errors (Rathert et al., 2019). For example, merely placing a decimal point at the wrong place when feeding data into a computer can result in the harm or even death of a patient. This research study is thus also important towards the determination of not just how to undertake electronic medical record conversion, but also how to do it safely. Another critical reason why this research is fundamental relates to how it affects the process of caregiving. Caregiving involves interpersonal relations between the nurse and the patient, something that the use of electronics is bound to interfere with (Rathert et al., 2019). It is inter alia for the above reasons that a better understanding of Electronic medical record conversion is critical for nursing leadership.
Finally, yet another fundamental importance for the instant research from the perspective of nursing leadership relates to how to handle electronic medical record conversion safely and without interfering with smooth service delivery. Almost all the obligations carried out by nurses including caregiving are critical meaning that they cannot be disrupted under any circumstances. The implementation of EMR must thus be undertaken in a manner that does not interfere with the day to day service delivery, hence the importance of the instant study. Important areas of research herein include issues such as time management for nurses and the necessary training for the efficient and effective use of EMR for the nurses (Rathert et al., 2019).
References
Adler-Milstein, J., DesRoches, C. M., Kralovec, P., Foster, G., Worzala, C., Charles, D., ... & Jha, A. K. (2015). Electronic health record adoption in US hospitals: progress continues, but challenges persist. Health Affairs , 34 (12), 2174-2180
Barrett, A. K. (2018). Electronic Health Record (EHR) Organizational change: Explaining resistance through profession, organizational experience, and EHR communication quality. Health Communication , 33 (4), 496-506
Rathert, C., Porter, T. H., Mittler, J. N., & Fleig-Palmer, M. (2019). Seven years after Meaningful Use: Physicians’ and nurses’ experiences with electronic health records. Health Care Management Review , 44 (1), 30-40
