Successful Implementation of Electronic Health Information Technology - Assignment Example

Successful Implementation of Electronic Health Information Technology and ID 05 January Successful Implementation of Electronic Health Information TechnologyWorking as a registered nurse in a hospital, I have recently seen the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system being implemented in my hospital. Electronic medical records help doctors and other medical professionals retrieve accurate records of patients from the system’s database in a quick manner. “The integration of electronic health records (EHR) has become a major organizational change objective in health care because of its promise of major improvements from paper records” (Boswell, 2011, p. 138). Some of the main benefits observed by implementing the EMR system in the hospital include quick processing of information, accuracy of information, completeness and relevance of information, increased information security based on authentication rules, and data consistency.

Today, electronic health records have become an important aspect of a healthcare organization based on its role in successful completion of all tasks using the information appropriately collected, stored, retrieved, and analyzed by the electronic medical record systems. The collected information can be used by different health departments in the decision-making processes.Before actually purchasing and implementing the system, the management of my hospital conducted a survey to know the viewpoints and concerns of all indented users of the system including nurses.

This reason behind this was to make every user well-informed about the working and need of the new system, as well as to address the concerns of all users. Nurses were particularly included in the survey because the management believes them to be an important role player in the overall information management system. Nursing personals play a dynamic role in the successful adoption of healthcare information systems (Hsiao, Chang, & Chen, 2011, p. 150). When the system was purchased in our hospital, the management conducted a two-week training program in which all users including nurses were provided with all relevant information about the system.

Moreover, the users were also given practical training of using the system. As an end user, I feel that I have played my role in selection and planning of the new HIT system. Several issues can occur if the management does not take into account the concerns of nurses while planning for any new system. For example, if nurses are not informed about the new system before purchasing, the management can never know the exact requirements of the system as the result of which they may need to purchase another system in a short time.

Similarly, if the management does not include nurses in the training sessions, information management issues, such as, improper storing of data and late retrieval of information may occur because they are the nurses who have to store the medical information about the patients into the system on daily basis and retrieve it when needed. “For nurses, use of electronic documentation sources becomes highly relevant because this is where they obtain the majority of necessary patient information” (Kelley, Brandon, & Hocherty, 2011, p. 154). Therefore, it is extremely important to included nurses in the decision-making processes and training programs whenever there is a need of updating the health information technology.

ReferencesBoswell, R. (2011). A Physician Group’s Movement toward Electronic Health Records: A Case Study Using the Transtheoretical Model for Organizational Change. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 63(2), 138-148.Hsiao, J., Chang, H., & Chen, R. (2011). A Study of Factors Affecting Acceptance of Hospital Information Systems: A Nursing Perspective. Journal of Nursing Research, 19(2), 150-160.Kelley, T., Brandon, D., Docherty, S. (2011). Electronic Nursing Documentation as a Strategy to Improve Quality of Patient Care.

Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 43(2), 154-162.