Improving The Adoption Of Harmust Information Systems In The Emergency Room

The Institute of Medicine encouraged the adoption of “robust information systems to improve the safety and quality of emergency care and enhance hospital efficiency” (Vartak, Crandall, Brokel, Wakefield, & Ward, 2009). There were/are some problem areas related to health records for an emergency department may be that (1) software systems in the emergency room may differ from other software systems used in other departments within the hospital, (2) access to the patient’s health records in the health information department and the doctor’s office may be limited to the emergency department, and (3) patients that come in through the emergency room may suffer from lack of consciousness and may be unable to identify themselves, in which case the

While white boards are still common for keeping track of a patient’s care are still utilized in a healthcare setting, a computer system offers a real-time tracking of a patient’s care, which helps to expedite the diagnosis and treatment processes in the emergency room and in other departments through-out the healthcare facility. White boards and a computer system help the staff to keep track of many things such as patient wait times, patient acute status, staffing assignments, order status, pending consults, and much more. Computer systems have improved the accuracy and how current the tracking of patient treatment status is. This is important in the emergency room because the emergency room requests orders and testing from other departments within the healthcare facility. The emergency staff needs to be able to quickly identify the status of the patient’s health, results, and consults to minimize the patient’s time spent in the emergency room. Computer systems, in the emergency room, used to track the current status of a patient’s treatment can improve the “workflow, patient care, and satisfaction” of the healthcare facility (Gartee, 2011, pg.

It is important for a healthcare facility to do what they can to minimize the problems related to health information records for the emergency room enable to improve the time a patient spends in the emergency room and the treatment they receive in the emergency room. The general public can also do their part to improve the health information records for the emergency room by making sure that they always carry current identification, a general current information health card (that provides allergies, blood type, or any other important medical information), and current insurance information. Doing those things will also help to improve the care that the individual receives if they are involved in a serious accident or need to go to the emergency room