UT group B

[kputman]

Group B here is your informatics question.

Think of a clinical setting how will the information you have learned assist with continuity of care?

[singram8]

Privacy in nursing care is very important and has become a major concern for the past several years. It is very imperative that we as future nurses understand the importance of keeping the client's information safe. For example: making log in information difficult to prevent others from hacking your log-in info, always locking the screen if you are to walk away from computer, shredding any paperwork with client's information on it that you no longer need, avoid sending and using outside email (Yahoo, AOL, etc.), and always logging out after completing your tasks. There has been many cases in which client's info was hacked due to careless errors that could have been avoided just by these simple steps.

[kjacks46]

I believe an important benefit to accessing patient information through technology has been the ease of access. The patient's history, the current visit complaint/diagnosis, up-to-date vitals/labs/medication administration is readily available. Physicians are able to monitor their patients from their clinics or other floors of the hospital. Nurses are able to contact other health care team members, such as pharmacy, in reference to a patient and they are able to pull up the same document for reference. The primary benefit is safety to the patient. In the past, many patients forms have been lost or simply not transferred to the new healthcare setting and the entire picture of the patient could not be seen. With the compilation of information, any nurse, physician, respiratory therapist, physical therapist, or nutrition can follow the patient events from the very beginning to see the entire picture, which is imperative to thorough patient care.

[bsherbine]

We use technology for everything including nursing. An EMR is used in most hospitals and is one of the most useful technologies in nursing. Nurses are expected to know how to read an EMR and how to chart patient information in the EMR. An EMR improves access to a patient’s health history and makes it easier to share with providers and can be accessed simultaneously at multiple locations. It decreases information being entered more than once. It also decreases time spent documenting and allows information to be directly entered. By decreasing time spent documenting, time spent on client care increases which improves patient care and safety. The EMR can improve communication and decrease error by improving legibility of documents and orders. It can also plot vital signs to see the trends and changes. This will also improve patient safety by catching changes in vital signs more quickly. EMR also decrease cost for hospitals and improves patient privacy (Sewell, 2013). EMR are extremely important in the nursing and medical field and will assist in patient care in the clinical setting.

Sewell, J., & Thede, L.Q. (2013) Informatics and nursing: Opportunities and challenges. (4th ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott

[singram8]

I completely agree with this post kjacks46. Patients are our number one priority in the health care field. Without our patients, we are unable to complete the career we desire so passionately. By making it more convenient for nurses, doctors, pharmacy, etc to view charts without being on the floor allows for tasks to be completed with or without spontaneous modification to orders. For example, if a doctor needs to change an order immediately to benefit a patient, he has easy access to do so in which the nurse is also able to view the order in a timely manner and complete the order as the doctor has provided.

[bsherbine]

I agree singram8 that privacy is important and a nurse place an important job in keeping patient's information private. I know we have seen how easy it is to step away from the computer to do a quick task and leave patient information up. As nurses we all must make a conscious effort to log off of any computer with patient information on it before leaving the computer. Another thing I would add is not giving out patient information to friends and family when a patient doesn't want that information shared.

[singram8]

bsherbine you are absolutely correct. Technology is increasing drastically daily. By using EMR, it has decreased the stress of paper charting othroughout the hospital. Paper charts a were difficult to read, only able to be assessed in the unit in which it was written instead of all throughout the hospital on a computer, and also more likely to be destroyed, stolen, or lost accidentally.

[twill132]

On the same note as Kim, I believe that documentation is a critical element and it has evolved in such a way to provide optimum patient care as well as improve safety. Specifically, I think that learning about the benefits of Point of Care Technology (POCT) has helped and will continue to help with assisting in patient care as future nurses. Having such a reliable resource, such as the Accu-chek, available to perform at the bedside allows for quick results and provides adequate time to perform nessesary interventions. Without these tests, treatment would have to be delayed which could cause further health complications. This aspect of informatics in the nursing field is a vast improvement from the past and I am looking forward to the future of more advances of POCT

[bsherbine]

Kjacks46, patient safety has improved with the introduction of technology. Computer charting has decreased patient information being lost. It has also decreased cost and time used charting. This cost can be used for better facilities, technology, and health care. The time saved using technology when charting can increase time spent on patient care and keeping patient safe. I completely agree that patient safety is the primary benefit of technology in the clinical setting.

[kjacks46]

singram8, I agree. Privacy has been and will continue to be an issue throughout the hospital setting until such problems are resolved. The above is accurate in prevention, however, as we've all done in clinical, what about writing down report on paper for notes throughout the shift? I have seen many nurses, including myself, write down patient information on paper and leave it on a computer, including my careplan. I believe another way to prevent HIPAA violations may be to implement electronic note taking. Whether it be a tablet or another document on the computer on wheels (WOW), this would decrease the event of losing the piece of paper, a bystander looking at the paper, or writing the wrong information under the wrong patient. As simple as it is to open a patients file in Cerner, I think having an app or a word document would be beneficial to the nurse for timely note taking and decrease the event of HIPAA violations.

[twill132]

bsherbine I agree with this post. The efficiency of the EMR is great especially when it comes to organization. To me, having a trend in vital signs is imperative because it's something that us as nurses need to visualize to catch a problem before something catastrophic happens. It makes a big difference looking at plain numbers to actually seeing a graph of the data. It allows us to see the entire picture instead of pieces of a puzzle. Overall, I agree with your views of the EMR. Great post!