Current Status of the Electronic Health Record - Research Paper Example

A recent study suggested that levels of adoption ranged from 5%-59%-the reason being that there is a wide difference amongst practitioners about what functionalities are constituted in an electronic health record. Keeping in line with this drawback the Institute of Medicine has outlined a list of prospective functionalities that relate to an electronic health recording system.

(Jha, et al, 2009) In 2010, congress and the Obama administration provided the health care community with a tool to increase the advancement of electronic health records. It would make incentive payments totaling $27 billion to clinicians and independent physicians in order to adopt a countrywide electronic health record system. Together with the help of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Department of Health and Human Services has decided upon the latest criterion to be followed in 2011 and 2012.

These firstly include the core objectives, which are the entry of the basic medical history, demographics, smoking status, vital signs, active medications, allergies, etc. of a patient. Other core objectives include several software applications that include the safety, efficiency, and quality of healthcare. The secondary (but just as essential) group includes ten tasks out of which any five have to be adopted. The tasks include drug formulation checks, clinical laboratories, reminders to patients, and patient-particular health resources to educate them.

The Department of Health and Human Services has also devised a system of certifying electronic health records so that users can be sure that they are truthful and exact. (David Bluementhal&MarrelynTavenner, 2010) Impact on nurse staffing: The study by Kossman, Susan P. RN, Scheidenhelm, and Sandra N. RN tries to measure and relate the use of electronic health records to the job performance of nurses and the impact that it has on patients care. The sample included 46 nurses from medical-surgical and intensive care units from two community hospitals in the U.S. The results showed that the electronic health records helped them track important patient material and reports faster through easier and faster access to information, screen alerts, and better organization of data.

However, the nurses reported that the recording process took about 73% of their time and took time away from the care that they could give to patients. The nurses reported that although the use of electronic information systems and electronic health records increased the safety of medical care it decreased the quality of their nursing. (Kossman, Susan P. RN, Scheidenhelm, and Sandra N. RN, 2008) In order to further understand whether electronic health records improve nurses’ job performance and therefore stimulate safe patient care, we can use the findings of the study- Perceptions of the impact of electronic health records on nurses’ work. (Susan P. Kossman, 2006) Refining medical care for citizens is an international struggle and in keeping with this, the Institute of Medicine has described problems with nurses’ work such as problems with staffing, unsafe work conditions, and poor workplace design.