General healthcare technology trends related to data

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General healthcare technology trends related to data/information have changed since I was an LPN in 2006. I worked in a nursing home and all our MARS were handwritten and then they went to printed, and we just had to fill in the new medications that the patients were on. For example, the antibiotics or fluids or breathing treatments. We had to fill out the care plans and update weekly.

Now everything has changed to an electronic health record (EHR) which is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users (HealthIT.gov. (2018c).

The EHR standards are evolving and barriers to adopt remain, the collective work has a positive momentum that will benefit clinicians and patients alike. The four most common benefits for EHR are  (1) increased delivery of guidelines-based care, (2) enhanced capacity to perform surveillance and monitoring for disease conditions, (3) reduction in medication errors, and (4) decreased use of care (McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K.G (2017).

One Challenge is there is yet no EHR system available that can provide all functions for all specialties to such a degree that all clinicians would successfully adopt it. Some EHR s do a good job of supporting the work of nursing staff and physicians but are not as supportive of the work of clinicians such as dieticians, physical and occupational therapists, and other healthcare personnel (McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K.G (2017).

The Healthcare technology trend that I believe is the most promising for impacting healthcare technology in nursing practice is Telemedicine, due to COVID-19 evolution in telemedicine is one of the biggest sources of rapid change in the US healthcare system. Telemedicine is improving diagnosing and treatment by making it easier for patients to get access to specialists, too. The availability of electronic records has also made it simpler to forward documents to specialist (MobiDev, 30 Apr. 2020).

References

HealthIT.gov. (2018c). What is an electronic health record (EHR)? Retrieved from https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-electronic-health-record-ehr

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Chapter 14, “The Electronic Health Record and Clinical Informatics” (pp. 267–287)

MobiDev, 30 Apr. 2020, “8 Healthcare Technology Trends to Watch in 2020.”  mobidev.biz/blog/technology-trends-healthcare-digital-transformatio