EHR In Health Care

Health care is growing increasingly complex, and most clinical research focuses on new approaches to diagnosis and treatment (Bates and Gawande, 2003). An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. EHRs are real-time, patient-centeredrecords that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users. While an EHR does contain the medical and treatment histories of patients, an EHR system is built to go beyond standard clinical data collected in a provider’s office and can be inclusive of a broader view of a patient’s care. The electronic health record (EHR) is a documentation tool that yields data useful in enhancing patient safety, evaluating care quality, maximizing efficiency, and determining

Such decision aids, which can be used by patients with or without healthcare professionals, are especially desirable when the optimal management strategy depends on the strength of the patient's preferences for the different health outcomes that may result from the decision. For example, a decision system for contraceptives choice would not only take into account personal risk factors such as smoking, to determine the best choice but also determine the values the patient places on different outcomes, such as unwanted pregnancy or venous thrombosis.

Health care information technology has the potential to achieve clinical transformation. In order for nursing students to develop mastery of the clinical information systems and equipment, nursing students and faculty must be able to use these tools effectively to use data and knowledge in their practice. (Gassert, 2008)

Attitudes toward technology may impact the levels of technology acceptance and training willingness among nursing students. Nurse acceptance and effective utilization of technology are critical to improving patient care and safety. (Malloch, 2007)

Valid and comprehensive nursing informatics competences currently are lacking. Meanwhile nursing leaders are stressing on the need to include nursing informatics in nursing curriculum as well as within all healthcare settings. (Staggers et al.

The growing sophistication of computers and software should allow information technology to play a vital part in reducing that risk by streamlining care, catching and correcting errors, assisting with decisions, and providing feedback on performance (Bates & Gawande, 2003).Nevertheless it is important for practising nurses to use standardized nursing language due to the fact that more organizations are moving towards electronic documentation and the use of electronic health records. In fact it is impossible for any healthcare profession to implement the use of electronic documentation without having a standardized language or vocabulary to describe the component of the care process and to identify nursing contribution in caring for patients. (Schwirian,