BigRed15

Laurinemory, I also like your point about patients with comorbid conditions having multiple physicians. Even with standardization in hospitals located in Memphis, I still see a lack of communication between doctors. I had a renal patient, with many other comorbidites. I saw lack of communication between doctors within the same hospital, even though they had access to the same EHR. If that patient had gone else where, the difficulty of communication may have even been worse, especially if it were another hospital whose EHR was not interoperable.

I agree with UTDKS. Multiple vendors seem to be a challenge. Sewell (2013) states the health care, specifically the electronic information standards, is still in its infancy. The problem is that all systems are not interoperable with each other. The lack of interoperability between certain systems prevents early detection of errors, such as serious drug side effects. This may not be possible, but it seems to me if there were a single set of standards, information could be easily accessed, and documentation would not be in so many different areas. Sewell, J. P., & Thede, L. Q. (2013). Informatics and nursing: opportunities and challenges (4th ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

In healthcare, communication is crucial. Interoperability is the ability to exchange and share information. In health care, interoperability helps to provide the best care across communities and populations. Standards allow all members of the healthcare team to be on the same page, thus you have to have standards to have interoperability (Sewell, 2013). I do agree with Candice. If there were no standards, it would be chaos. Sewell’s example of the meaning “stroller” gives great insight to how different words can have completely different meanings. In a museum, a sign that says “no strollers” could be taken two ways – no baby carriages, or no slow walkers. The difference in the meaning of one word can create a huge gap in communication. This is just on example of why standards are needed. I did not realize how much I depend on standards every day in the hospital until reading this chapter. As nurses, we are constantly documenting on each patient’s electronic health record (EHR). Decisions in healthcare, specifically in the EHR, about what is recorded, how it is recorded, terminology used, and what data needs to be reported to other organizations is dependent upon standards (Sewell, 2013). An article from the American Journal of Nursing states that the goal of interoperability is to reduce duplication of tests, improve cost-effectiveness or interventions, and help compile a comprehensive patient history. He also goes on to say that technological advances are not for the sake of technology alone, but to create a more efficient and safe system to allow nurses to spend more time at the patient’s bedside (Mcbride, 2012). Mcbride, S., Delaney, J. M., & Tietze, M. (2012). Health Information Technology and Nursing. AJN, American Journal of Nursing, 112(8), 36-42. Sewell, J. P., & Thede, L. Q. (2013). Informatics and nursing: opportunities and challenges (4th ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. - Mary Jane