Review: EMR's

Technology plays a huge role in the healthcare industry. As technology changes so does the way healthcare plays a role in our lives. For instance, a new scanning machine might be able to pick up small tumors while a new lab test might detect an unknown cancer. When one thinks of technology and healthcare it is often how that technology can keep them healthier and more aware of what is going on in their bodies. However, technology plays an even bigger role when it comes it patient records, billing, physician dictation, and how charting gets done. Even though the use of electronic medical records (EMR) has been around for over 30 years, only 48.3% of hospitals around the United States have implemented using EMR’s.           

Currently, paper-based records are still the most common method of recording patient information.  While many medical facilities are switching over to the use of EMR’s many medical facilities are finding change and the cost of switching over to EMR’s hard to come to. Implementing EMR’s includes costs such as training every employee, purchasing new equipment and software, and possibly hiring additional staff to ensure that EMR’s are being properly run. All these costs can be hard to manage for smaller medical facilities. 

Even though the cost of implementing EMR’s can be expensive, the cost of maintaining standard paper-based records can add up quickly. In the United States most states require that physical records be held for a minimum of seven years. The costs of storage, such as paper and film, per unit of information differ dramatically from that of electronic storage media. When paper records are stored in different locations, collating them to a single location for review by a health care provider is time consuming and complicated, whereas the process can be simplified with electronic records.

Yes, paper charting does take time, but will the use of EMR’s allow nurses to spend more time with their patients? Some studies have found in hospitals that EMR’s have been implemented; nurses are spending less time with their patients because they are too busy at the computer learning the system and charting. The hard truth is that eventually all medical facilities will be mandated to implement the use of EMR’s. In the mean time, medical facilities should be preparing for the use of EMR’s by slowly training key staff such as physicians, nurses, and medical records and slowly training other staff such as the business office and admitting.

Only time will tell if medical errors will decrease but this is a start in the right direction. Many people also think that by implementing the use of EMR’s will decrease medical errors such as charting in the wrong patients chart or prescribing the wrong medication. Handwritten charting can lead to poor handwriting and someone misinterpreting that information. Having medical staff chart electronically allows everyone to use a standard font, which is readable by all staff. 

 

The pros and cons for paper-based charting and EMR’s can go on and on. However, with new technology developing everyday it is only time before all medical facilities will have electronic charting. Until then, I think medical facilities that do not have EMR’s should do proper research and really see how EMR’s can benefit their facilities.