EHR Pros and Cons

EHR stands for Electronic Health Record. This is an electronic version of a patient's medical history, which is maintained by the healthcare provider over time. The record may include all the key administrative clinical data that is relevant to the patient's care under a particular health provider (Tiwari, Thakur, & Tiwari, 2018). It also includes demographics, problems, progress notes, vital signs, medications, immunizations, past medical history, laboratory, and radiology reports. An EHR automates access to patient information and it has the potential to streamline a physician's workflow. The electronic records can be shared across different health care settings, which benefits the patient as they do not have to undergo the same tests that have been done before. An EHR is designed to store data accurately and it captures the state of a patient across time.

Pros

Cons

Improvement in the quality of care.

When an EHR is used properly there will be increased improvement in the quality of care delivered to patients. It is the goal of each health institution to better the lives of its patients and clients. Using EHR this is possible since communication is improved, patient information is easily accessible, and there is no risk of loss of data or lost papers. There is also a seamless sharing of information between providers in the same organization (Harle et al., 2016). This ensures that a provider does not need to wait for a file to come from one location to his or her office for them to attend to the patient. This feature reduces the time patients spend waiting. Clinical decision-making tools can be integrated and this will assist physicians to make the correct diagnosis.

EHR hinders patient-clinician engagement.

It has been noted that physicians are spending a considerable amount of time entering data into the system instead of interacting with the patient (Harle et al., 2016). This interferes with the patient-provider relationship. Clinicians have indicated that they find EHR to be taking away valuable patient time and the clinicians are spending time interacting with the patient. EHR increases the...…to care for his or her health.

Improve care coordination

Using an EHR it is now much easy to coordinate the care of patients. As an APN one needs to log into the EHR system and check on the status of patients and the recommended treatment plans. There will be information regarding what prescriptions have been administered and what has not been done. This way the possibility of errors is reduced and patient care is improved (Marek, Stetzer, Adams, & Kelly, 2018). Providers can also share information about a patient within the same organization and the information is accessible instantly. With proper coordination, a nurse in one department will get the information needed to continue caring for a patient who has come from a different department. Patient errors are reduced as all information is located in a central location and one can see what medications have been administered and the time they were administered.