The operation of EHRs ensures information flows seamlessly, which allows healthcare practitioners to deliver care safely and efficiently. EHR automation offers many benefits both to the healthcare organization and to patients due to its ability to automatically use existing information.
EHRs are beneficial because they improve patient care, help to prevent errors in patient care, empower patients to engage actively in managing their well-being, and enhance the efficiency of medical personnel.
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EHRs ensure the availability of reliable and complete data regarding the health and medical history of patients to healthcare providers, which enhances patient care (Hoover, 2017). Data availability gives providers the required information to ensure patients receive optimal care. EHRs also ensure that this information is available fast due to automation both remotely and during inpatient visits (MIT Critical Data, 2016). The information is legible, complete, and simplified and other providers, registries, laboratories, and other departments can share it, which leads to improved coordination in the provision of efficient care (MIT Critical Data, 2016). Patients also gain because they do not need to fill out forms, visit their providers to get prescriptions since EHRs can prescribe drugs digitally, and visit their providers to access their medical records since they can access the files online and in real time. In turn, this saves time and allows patients to connect with their health data easily.
EHRs also enhance patient outcomes by helping to prevent medical errors. EHRs promote digital information sharing, which is beneficial for doctors involved in patient information management (MIT Critical Data, 2016). The absence of paperwork required in sharing medical data between healthcare organizations means that a network of physicians, specialists, providers, and emergency reaction teams can access the reliable and complete medical record of patients regardless of the medical care setting to make timely decisions, mainly during life-threatening situations (Hoffman, 2016). A medical history record of patients in EHR enhances the ability of providers to diagnose illnesses, prevent or reduce medical errors, and improve the overall patient outcomes since EHRs ensures ready availability of records at the point of care (Hoover, 2017). EHRs also ensure streamlined workflows by eliminating paperwork, which leaves healthcare personnel with extra time to interact with patients directly that positively affects patient outcome. EHRs also collect data continuously, which enhances personalized care by allowing doctors to handle medical issues preventively (MIT Critical Data, 2016). Aggregated patient information and continuous data collection can alert providers to health trends such as possible outbreaks and prominent bacteria or virus during a specific period.
EHRs also encourage patients to engage actively in managing their health care as they increase patient proactivity through presenting complete information about their medical history combined with the ease of patient-to-provider collaboration using online communication (Hoover, 2017). Patients can also control their health remotely by managing appointments online. EHR can also be combined with other technologies such as remote reminders for patients to establish follow-up care, physicians sending patients information following an appointment, and resource sharing to educate patients experiencing specific medical issues (Hoffman, 2016). In turn, this ensures that patients partner with physicians and other healthcare providers to manage their long term health care.
Another benefit of EHRs is that they improve practice efficiencies by creating an efficient setting for healthcare personnel. Through EHRs, healthcare personnel can send prescriptions digitally and save time, receive laboratory results faster, and maintain data confidentiality (Hoffman, 2016). EHRs increase operation efficiency because they offer integrated scheduling systems that connect appointments to claims, coding, and progress notes while enhancing centralized chart management (Hoover, 2017). In turn, this improves communication between health plans, laboratories, and other clinicians. EHRs also reduce the possibility of duplicating laboratory tests due to the tracking feature in the system such as test result receipt and laboratory orders (Hoffman, 2016). In turn, this decreases redundancies and enable providers to review laboratory results quickly.
EHRs improve patient care by allowing providers to focus on treatment instead of tracking records. EHRs also allow providers to identify health patterns and share streamlined patient data, which leads to effective and faster patient care.
References
MIT Critical Data (2016). Secondary Analysis of Electronic Health Records . Springer International Publishing.
Hoffman, S. (2016). Electronic Health Records and Medical Big Data (Vol. 32). Cambridge University Press.
Hoover, R. (2017). Benefits of Using an Electronic Health Record. Nursing2018 Critical Care , 12 (1), 9-10.
