Healthcare Technology and Nursing Leadership

Reforming Healthcare Through Technology Initiatives

 

The implementation of the electronic medical record has brought with it several advantages for the heath care system. Along with providing access to a patient's medical record from anywhere, patient safety sets are preprogrammed into technology to guide the nurses clinical behavior. These sets are used to improve quality care and improve patient outcomes. The EHR is collecting data every day to be used in improving processes and trending diagnosis to be used in population health management. Many organizations are turning to big data warehouses to utilize data about demographics, diagnosis and interventions from other organizations that are close to their size and operations to influence the quality of care being provided. it will also help to focus on patient engagement initiatives. Big data can be accessed in real time and will play a part as health care switches to a value based model. The relationship between quality and cost will play a huge role in the years to come.


Standardized Quality Care

Nurses as a profession need to play a part in the implementation of these technology initiatives so that the workflow of the nurses is cohesive with the technology. Having nurses at the table from the beginning will help with the role out and buy in from the end users. If the nurses are familiar with the technology and understand the purpose and the goal, the impact of the implementation will not be as great. Technology is being used as a means to reduce errors and improve quality care. Nurses need to understand meaningful use of the EHR and the incentives behind the implementation. Organizations that are not on board with an EHR or technology to reduce errors are going to find themselves left behind.

Patient Safety and Quality Care

 

 

 

Identifying and using a standardized language for documentation will also help improve outcomes and safety for patients. Data mining is time consuming because of the different coding systems used by different organizations. The EHR's need to have a way for the clinical care to be documented and utilized by all of the interdisciplinary team while treating the patient. There are EHR's now that can be linked to each other across the country to look up a patient's medical record while treating that patient in a different location. Trying to sort through codes and documentation is a waste of valuable time while the patient is being cared for.

 

 

 

Health care organizations are feeling the pressure to improve the quality of care and safety, while decreasing costs and increasing revenue. Providers and organizations are being asked to do more with less. The advent of technology is being used as a way to increase efficiency, and improve productivity across the organizations. As a team, technology can be used as an improvement tool and not as a requirement.

 

References

Glaser, J., & Hess, R. (2011). leveraging healthcare IT to improve operational performance. Healthcare Financial Management, 82-85.

Huryk, L. (2010). Factors influencing nurses attitudes toward healthcare information technology. Journal of Nursing Management, 18, 606-612.

Moore, K., Eyestone, K., & Coddington, D. C. (2013, August). The big deal about big data. Healthcare Financial Management, 61-68.

Piscotty, R. J., Kalisch, B., & Gracey-Thomas, A. (2015). Impact of healthcare information technology on nursing practice. Journal of nursing scholarship, 47(4), 287-293.