Quality Improvement Proposal in Nursing Informatics: NURS_FPX6612_Assessment 2
The American healthcare system experienced several significant changes starting in the early twentieth century. In recent years, there has been a diversion from “volume to value.” patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) and accountable care organizations (ACOs) are two examples of new organizational structures emerging in response to this change in the provider market (Burns & Pauly, 2018). As a leading cause of death, medical errors are a severe problem in American healthcare. Identifying the source of the problem and creating a solution that effectively decreases the problem’s recurrence are complicated undertakings. Recognizing adverse events, practicing what has been learned, and working to avoid such situations may improve patient safety. It is crucial to encourage a culture that actively confronts safety problems and embraces effective solutions rather than one that fosters blame, shame, and punishment. Healthcare organizations should embrace a culture of safety that places a premium on system development to combat the pervasive problem of medical errors. To ensure the safety of both patients and healthcare providers, every member of the health professionals must do their part.
It is widely accepted that HIT plays an integral part in enhancing individual, community, and population health. Companies working in health care, those advocating for patients’ rights, and those in charge of setting standards have all pledged to learn more about how HIT might help them advance toward the Institute of Medicine’s quality and safety goals. Better health care and information access for individuals, communities, and populations require a firm grasp of HIT. With the help of HIT, doctors and patients may get their hands on the data they need quickly and easily. Healthcare expenses may be reduced if the information is readily available to providers and patients. This evaluation suggests approaches where a hospital might increase its use of HIT to meet the criteria for becoming an ACO.
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Adding quality measures to the hospital’s HIT
Collecting information and solving the problem of coordinating care
According to Alotaibi & Federico, HIT utilizes information processing, including the hardware and software parts of a computer, to retrieve, store, share, and utilize healthcare statistics, data, and expertise for communication and judgment (2017). A wide range of services is included in HIT, from basic charting to complex decision support and the incorporation of medical equipment. HIT can transform healthcare in several important ways, including lowering medical faults’ prevalence, enhancing clinical results, streamlining care organization, boosting practice efficiency, and tracking patient data regularly.
While most hospitals have made strides in improving their HIT systems, there is still more to be done. EHRs may be upgraded to include new healthcare challenges, allowing for the inclusion of quality indicators. Healthcare institutions might construct numerous informational systems to prevent becoming too reliant on any one piece of technology. Care coordination may be automated with the use of electronic health records. An Institute of Medicine committee has described the primary roles of an electronic health record system, which are as follows: the storage of health information and data; the administration of results; the input and management of orders; the provision of decision assistance; the connectedness of electronic communication; the condition of the patient support; the processing of administrative tasks; and reporting and population health management; (Noraziani et al., 2013). When a doctor enters a patient’s record number into such a system, a menu appears with the patient’s current treatments, broader issues, latest visit history to health clinicians with submenus for comments from those consultations, pictures, and findings of medical testing, a functional status evaluation, and social service certification document, a timeline of preventative care, allergies, names and contact details for all individuals taking care of the patient, and more (Alotaibi & Federico, 2017).
Advances in health IT have opened up several new avenues for healthcare reform and service enhancement. Improvements in clinical outcomes, coordinated care, practice effectiveness, and data monitoring are all facilitated by this. Clinical decision support systems, telemedicine, electronic prescriptions, consumer health IT applications, electronic health records, and electronic disease registries are all examples of HIT. Accurate patient health data is only possible with well-implemented Health Information Technology. This information allows medical professionals to deliver the highest quality treatment during urgent and regular examinations. In addition, HIT enables better care coordination for individuals with complex medical needs. On top of that, healthcare practitioners are better equipped to oversee their patients’ well-being when they have access to and can securely use their patients’ medical records. Health information technology contributes to better health care by facilitating the creation of private and safe electronic health records for most patients.
Tracking health information from the community
Indicators of health risk factors, socioeconomic position, available health services, quality of life, and health status comprise a community health profile (Durch et al., 1997). These indicators describe a health concern, which may help you establish priorities and understand the data you find. A social work section might be added to the health record system so the hospital could maintain tabs on patient visits and their associated information. Patient obstacles to care and any relevant information that may affect therapy might be recorded in the tab. The hospital should hire more people to enter patient data wholly and correctly. In addition, the EHR requires more fields added so the hospital may record a wider variety of data. Whether favorable or harmful, the hospital should regularly update its health profile data to maintain an accurate picture of community situations that might inform health improvement initiatives.
When doing an initial evaluation of the community’s requirements, it is essential to consider the population and the requirements that are necessary at the present moment in the region. The basic requirements of the community and how they may be satisfied are the types of information that will have to be gathered. Collecting data on chronic health issues prevalent in the region, economic stability, ethnic groupings present in the area, and the degree to which the community is prepared to accept assistance. When the primary needs of the community have been determined, the next step in developing an efficient action plan is to establish whether or not the requirements of people in need can be met appropriately.
Role of informatics in nursing care coordination
Nursing informatics aims to attain efficiency, quality, and patient safety by integrating diverse healthcare technology. It is perfect for defining organizational technology to achieve efficient outcomes and high-quality healthcare delivery. Nursing informatics uses computer services and informational science as vital components of healthcare delivery as part of the services provided. It ultimately results in the awareness that healthcare can be more efficient. Additionally, successfully implementing such technologies into healthcare settings improves patient outcomes while lowering overall healthcare expenditures. In addition, it reduces the likelihood of drug mistakes, which are a significant obstacle to delivering high-quality healthcare. The practice of nurse informatics guarantees that an accurate risk assessment will be carried out, which will contribute to the prevention of prescription mistakes. Implementing information systems may improve access to relevant evidence, which can impact the overall quality of patient care and help promote evidence-based nursing (Darvish et al., 2014). Clinical patterns are influenced by nursing information systems, reducing the time nurses spend providing indirect care. It is of the utmost importance for those working in health care to evaluate, utilize, report on, and manage data with the assistance of new technologies made available by the information age.
The main focus of information gathering in healthcare
We can see the most remarkable instances of how the monitoring and collection of healthcare information have significantly contributed to enhancing healthcare quality. It has been shown that integrating big data into the healthcare system is an evidence-based technique that may lessen the amount of work that must be done and increase data availability. It guarantees that all necessary data are intergraded in a single location, simplifying data access. Using big data may also lower healthcare costs and lead to the realization of profits. In addition, it helps those working in healthcare to foresee the nature of healthcare in the future and the areas in which it is necessary to make improvements or later modifications.
The primary goals of data collection are to assist healthcare systems in developing an all-encompassing view of patients needing assistance in health centers, customized healthcare delivery, and enhanced communication between various interdisciplinary teams, decision-makers, and patients. The culmination of all of these efforts is an excellent product. An excellent illustration of this is the electronic health records system, which compiles patient information from various sources. The clinical observation of patients, the diagnosis of those patients, newly developing trends in healthcare, the percentage of patients who visit the facility daily, the form of medication that is taken, readmission rates, and the most commonly prescribed drugs are all components of electronic health records. The EHR system is designed to notify patients about the need to participate in extra tests and to check that they comply with their medication. Additionally, electronic health records allow physicians to undertake predictive analyses inside the healthcare industry. By drawing on the information in the electronic medical record, doctors can establish a connection between a patient’s myriad of health concerns and provide them with the best appropriate course of treatment for their particular situation.
Potential problems of data gathering systems and output
Electronic health records, or EHRs, are well suited for data integration. However, there will also be a great deal of difficulty in maintaining such data systems. There is a problem with virus contamination of the information, for example. The data may be lost or altered if it is not adequately safeguarded against viruses lurking in the system. Internet unreliability is another potential problem. Internet access is crucial to operating many types of informational data systems. It may be challenging to obtain the information in regions with spotty or no internet service. Other problems with data systems include data theft and access from the outside. Several malicious actors have developed novel software attacks in recent years thanks to the proliferation of sophisticated new technologies. The practice of stealing patient data without permission is widespread. System failure is another potential obstacle. Mechanical breakdowns are commonplace in machines. The only catch is that these breakdowns sometimes happen at the worst possible times when the information in question is desperately required. It’s easy to see how this may slow healthcare delivery, lower quality, and compromise patient safety. Unsecure data systems are a common entry point for employees who shouldn’t have access to sensitive company data. Only authorized individuals can access and retrieve patient records in a perfect healthcare system. Those people could be nurses, nurse managers, or third-party IT specialists. An additional access point increases the possibility of malicious intent. One of the potential problems is that there is no backup of the data.
The goal of adopting electronic health records is to simplify the documentation process. However, if developers built the EHR’s interface without considering how it would be used in practice, it may be awkward and hard to navigate. It may take employees longer than necessary to input data or locate the correct file.
These issues can severely compromise efforts to improve healthcare quality and patient safety. Developing data backup procedures, storing login credentials, and doing risk assessments as often as feasible are all evidence-based practices that may help mitigate these threats. Implementing monitoring equipment, hiring data security experts, and educating healthcare employees on mitigating these issues are all viable options. According to studies, nurse incompetence is a common cause of healthcare issues. Leaders in the nursing profession would do well to ensure that all nurses get training on their specific responsibilities for maintaining the confidentiality of patient records. A backup plan is crucial when data is lost due to human error or external factors. Each company can make its hard copy or digitally moveable disc copies as backups. It will guarantee that the data is retrievable in case of a system failure or unintentional loss. Data systems may also be safeguarded by implementing a password-protection scheme only authorized users to know about.
A company may improve its productivity by searching for user-friendly EHR software. Workers must have quick access to menu systems and other commands whenever required, without wasting time searching for the following command or choice. They can move on to the next patient faster if they don’t have to spend as much time on each record.
References
Alotaibi, Y. K., & Federico, F. (2017). The impact of health information technology on patient safety. Saudi medical journal, 38(12), 1173.
Burns, L. R., & Pauly, M. V. (2018). Transformation of the health care industry: curb your enthusiasm?. The Milbank Quarterly, 96(1), 57-109.
Darvish, A., Bahramnezhad, F., Keyhanian, S., & Navidhamidi, M. (2014). The role of nursing informatics on promoting quality of health care and the need for appropriate education. Global journal of health science, 6(6), 11.
Durch, J. S., Bailey, L. A., & Stoto, M. A. (Eds.). (1997). Improving health in the community: a role for performance monitoring.
Noraziani, K., Nurul’Ain, A., Azhim, M. Z., Eslami, S. R., Drak, B., Sharifa Ezat, W., & Siti Nurul Akma, A. (2013). An overview of electronic medical record implementation in healthcare system: Lesson to learn. World Applied Sciences Journal, 25(2), 323-332.