Electronic Health Care Essay

Healthcare in the 21st century has made vast improvements in the way in which medical care is delivered and accessed by both clinicians and patients. With the growing population in the United States and the need for better, safer, and broader access to healthcare, improvement in how patient information is stored, tracked, and protected has become an even greater priority in the healthcare system. One of the biggest and most important contributions to healthcare in the 21st century has been the widespread adoption of electronic healthcare records.

Electronic health records, or EHRs, are a critical component of patient care. The electronic health record is a system used by hospitals and outpatient settings to organize and keep track of critical

A concerted effort to encourage hospitals to begin developing and using EHRs began in 2009 with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The passage of this act “provided major funding incentives to hospitals and eligible practitioners over the next several years to encourage the adoption and meaningful use of EHRs” (Kearney-Nunnery, 2020, p. 272). The development of EHRs was expected to take many years and was broken down into three stages. In stage one, clinicians were expected to identify important clinical conditions in the greater population by electronically capturing the health information of their patients. Stage 2 expanded upon data collection and clinicians were expected to be able to “demonstrate meaningful use of their EHR technology” and apply it to their specific patient population” (Kearney-Nunnery, 2020, p. 272). Finally, in stage 3 the focus shifted from data collection to improvement of safety, quality, and efficiency. High-priority health conditions were identified and standards of care were developed to improve overall population health (Kearney-Nunnery,

Physicians are encouraged, and often required, to electronically prescribe medications and give orders to nurses via the EHR. The EHR uses a system of checks to make sure that the provider is submitting a complete and appropriate order and that the medication is safe for the patient to take and does not interact with any other medications. Prior to the widespread use of EHRs, doctors would often give orders over the phone or handwritten. This method of delivering orders put nurses, doctors, and their patients at risk because of the ease of misunderstanding or misinterpreting an order. Often orders would be given with missing information and nurses did not have easy access to confirm if a medication was safe to give based on the patient’s allergies and contraindications (Kearney-Nunnery, 2020). Additionally, the incorporation of medication reconciliation into EHR systems ensures that all medications in the patient record are up-to-date and accurate. Electronic escribing and medication reconciliation are critical components of patient safety and their inclusion in the electronic health record has made a huge impact on nursing (Kearney-Nunnery,