Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Mariah Mollman
Abstract
Electronic health records (EHRs) are being used more frequently in the medical setting in replace
of paper health records (PHRs). EHRs make it easier on health care providers (HCPs) to chart
patient information in a more organized way. Patient’s records are available for all authorized
HCPs at all times making it so patient information is easily accessible and can be update
regularly. There are many benefits to using EHRs but there are still certain disadvantages that
need to be worked out in order to give patients quality care. EHRs are beneficial to both the
Keywords: electronic health record, paper health records, health care provider
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS IN NURSING 3
When working in health care professions it is important to remember that the main goal is
to help the patient. Helping a patient can be done in many different ways. The patient should feel
safe, comfortable, and provided for while in the care of a health care professional. Some
techniques in accomplishing this safe, comfortable, provided for feeling can be as great as
finding a new treatment plan that works for the patient, or as simple as finding a pillow that takes
away even an ounce of pain. No matter how small of a benefit the technique is, it is still a benefit
and progressing in the right direction. If there is a new technique out there that can give a patient
better care than what was being given before then, health care providers (HCP) should be willing
to give it some consideration. One technique that is giving many people questionable thoughts is
the technique of implementing electronic health records (EHRs) in all medical settings. In this
paper the topic of EHRs and the benefits health providers and patients receive will be discussed
along with how EHRs can be improved to continue to give patients the best quality care.
According to Potter, Perry, Stockert, and Hall (2017) EHRs are beneficial because EHRs
are inexpensive and will improve the quality of patient care. Being both inexpensive and quality
care are two of the patient’s major concerns. Some patients may often feel as if the option is
between one or the other but that having both, inexpensive and quality care, is impossible or
wishful thinking. With EHRs patients can soon understand that a health provider’s main concern
is that the patient’s needs are being fulfilled. Along with focusing on a patient’s concerns, EHRs
can help bring forth the patient’s chief complaint and keeping it as a priority for the care of the
patient while also monitoring the patient’s information as a whole. That way the patient’s main
complaint can be focused on while lowing anxiety and keeping other complaints under control.
The purpose of EHRs is to combine all of the patient’s information into one file on a
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS IN NURSING 4
computer; this includes the patient’s health history, laboratory results, nursing care plans and
much more (Rose, Richter, & Kapustin, 2014). EHRs make it easier and quicker to access a
patient’s information than paper health records (PHRs), having all of the patient’s records in one
location. Whereas, with PHRs a health provider may need to search multiple locations to find
certain patient information or call another health provider to get information collected by that
provider in the past. Another way that PHRs lack convenience is that EHRs are able to take a
picture of a wound and show, overtime, the healing process (Potter et al., 2017). Being able to
take pictures instantly and uploading the image directly saves time and effort for the health
provider so that other tasks can be started even quicker. EHRs are also useful by alerting the
HCP of patient needs (Peacock-Johnson, 2016). By alerting a HCP it may help certain
responsibilities to be taken care of on time, for example, this patient needs a specific medication
at a specific time of day and if receiving the medication is offset then it can interfere with the
patients care. EHRs make it easier on health providers to remember responsibilities that may be a
Charts cannot be out of order and client information should not be easy to lose due to saving the
information onto a database. The more accessible the information, the quicker and easier it will
be to have important knowledge of the patient and the situation in order to provide the best care
for the patient. A physical advantage to using EHRs would be the possibility of having the
patient’s records on a tablet or cellular phone (Vélez et al., 2014). Having a portable system can
help HCPs when the patients are spread out, enabling the HCP to move from one location to
another, using EHRs is much easier when moving around than PHR (Vélez, Okyere, Kanter, &
Bakken, 2014). This way the health provider has the option to go where the patient is at instead
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS IN NURSING 5
of having the patient move. Having the option to move is great for the health provider especially
in case of an emergency and the patient is incapable of moving, having PHRs makes it difficult
to bring the information that is needed to the site and can make emergency situations even more
problematic.
Poor handwriting is one of many downfalls to PHRs (Rose et al., 2014). Poor
handwriting can be the difference between the abbreviations mg (milligrams) and mcg
(micrograms), when the handwriting is unclear it could cause many problems for the future or
even cause a patient his/her life. EHRs make it easier so that others can clearly read what the
order is asking and most programs will have a Spellcheck program in order to detect any human
errors, another reason to double and triple check before submitting a report on the patien
Charting and giving orders using EHRs can result in better outcomes than when using PHRs.
Many nurses and physicians tend to have multiple responsibilities to take care of all at once;
causing HCPs to chart quickly and move to the next task. In the Rose et al. (2014) study patients
thought when providers had to re-ask questions with PHRs it showed that the provider was
incompetent. Having to re-ask the same question on multiple occasions due to not being able to
find the answer from the past showed that the health provider was not organized and lacked
information that would give the patient the best care. There are many different ways to chart and
some health care locations have guidelines on how to chart. Charting errors can be detrimental to
Using EHR benefit HCPs by making charting easier, and also making it so patient
information is more accessible. Searching for information is made easy on electronics; all that
needs to be done is to use a search function and input key words of the information that is needed
(Rose et al., 2014). By making the job easier on the HCP, the outcome will be to help the
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS IN NURSING 6
patients to feel that the best care is being given. Another benefit of EHRs is that it is consistent
and convenient. In EHRs all of the patient’s information is in one location and, depending on the
computer program, the templates are the same throughout the system (Rose et al., 2014). This is
a positive attribute for when a HCP needs to acquire about the patient. Having everything in one
location includes the patient’s health records from the past and present (Potter et al., 2017). This
gives the health provider background information on the patient and also helps the patient
receive ongoing management on past problems. The templates are convenient because it makes it
more difficult for a nurse, or any HCP, to forget important information while charting. EHRs
lessen the complexity of tasks because of the organization of the electronic format, which leads
to a better-guided interaction between the patient and the health provider (Rose et al., 2014). The
templates should have sections to complete, and some programs may even make it so that the
program cannot be exited without completing necessary material, for an example, vital signs.
EHRs give nurses the ability to communicate with other health providers more easily and
efficiently (Gomes, Hash, Orsolini, Watkins, & Mazzoccoli, 2016). According to Peacock-
Johnson (2016) EHRs help with being able to upload the information quickly so all HCPs
involved can see it instantly. Having everything in an electronic format makes it so the patient’s
file can be sent and received in a matter of seconds. Meaning that one HCP can give access to all
who are involved giving authorized HCPs access to records at all times when information on the
patient is required (Potter et al., 2017). Getting ahold of patient information and getting referrals
have never been easier. A health provider can send a patient’s information to another doctor,
with patient permission, to get a second opinion without ever having an encounter with the
second HCP. Although, receiving information instantly is convenient it is not always to best
Some may say EHRs give HCPs more time with patients and others may say the
opposite. In a study done by Gomes et al. (2016) surveys were given to nurses before
implementing the EHRs so that statistics of time spent with patients before the use of EHRs
could be compared to the statistics of time spent after using EHRs for six months. The nurses in
the study done by Gomes et al. (2016) went from spending 27% to 42% more time in patients’
room after the six months of using EHR. These results show that EHRs help nurses spend less
time at the nurses’ station documenting and more time in the patient’s room.
Even though technology seems to be the better option than no technology there are times
when PHRs excel more than EHRs. For example, PHRs do not rely on another source to work
properly unlike EHRs. EHRs need Wi-Fi in order to function; without Wi-Fi HCPs will not be
able to log or obtain information about the patient (Gomes et al., 2016). Having to rely on Wi-Fi
can cause many issues with giving the patient quality care; HCPs should not be dependent on
technology. A patient wants the HCP to be in control of the care not an inanimate object. EHRs
make the patient’s information easily accessible for all the care providers involved, and this
could also make it easily disposable, whether that is disposing of it on purpose or as a mistake.
With any new technique there can be many complications. Time and experience is essential for
working out all of the kinks in order to use a technique properly. It is important to know if there
is potential in the technique to provide the best care for the patient and how the patient feels
about the care that is being received. EHRs can help this goal yet, at times, makes it more
difficult. In the study by Rose et al. (2014) some patients felt as if the HCPs were giving more
attention to the computer screen while assessing. One way to combat this would be to allowing
the patient to look at the screen along side the provider. Take time to alternate between typing
and listening, that way the patient feels acknowledged and important in the process.
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS IN NURSING 8
According to Rose et al. (2014) transition periods from PHRs to EHRs were bad for the
patients, causing frustrations and errors with the HCP causing the patients to be concerned. To
combat this shortcoming it would be a good idea to have classes for HCPs and nurses to take in
order to know how to work the EHR and to electronic format. Some HCPs found the EHRs to be
very tedious work at times, transferring data and/or adding a new patient to the database (Vélez
et al., 2014); making EHRs feel more like going through obstacles than helpful. Another
complication with EHRs is that the touch screens on cellular phones and tablet cause some
problems with misreading which key was pressed but this problem could be fixed by using
In the end it is the patient’s desires that matter the most. In the study by Rose et al. (2014)
it was found that participants preferred the use of EHRs but there was also concern for
communication issues, safety/security issues, and transitions. But despite the doubtful
encounters, patients and the HCPs experienced, both parties tend to be in favor of using the
EHRs. No matter how small of a benefit that comes from a technique, it is still worth the
consideration if that means the technique will help the patient progress in the right direction.
EHRs are progressing the medical setting in the right direction, but some minor corrections will
References
Gomes, M., Hash, P., Orsolini, L., Watkins, A., & Mazzoccoli, A. (2016). Connecting
professional practice and technology at the bedside: Nurses’ beliefs about using an
electronic health record and their ability to incorporate professional and patient-centered
nursing activities in patient care. Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 34(12), 578–586. doi:
10.1097/CIN.0000000000000280
Peacock-Johnson, Annette. (2016.) “News.” Quality and safety education for nurses, Retrieved
from http://www.qsen.org/heath-informatics-and-technology-professional-
responsibilities/.
Potter, P.A., Perry, A.G., Stockert, P.A., & Hall, A. M. (2017). Fundamentals of nursing (9th
Rose, D., Richter, L. T., & Kapustin, J. (2014). Patient experiences with electronic medical
Vélez, O., Okyere, P. B., Kanter, A. S., & Bakken, S. (2014). A usability study of a mobile
health application for rural Ghanaian midwives. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s
Appendix
I. Introduction
a. Goal of nursing
b. EHRs
b. Focus of EHR
a. One location
i. Convenient
ii. Efficient
i. Pictures
ii. Reminders
i. Easily portable
a. Templates
b. Completion
a. Instant upload
b. Instant access
a. Wi-Fi
c. Physical difficulties
VIII. Conclusion