EHRs Benefits and Drawbacks

Pros and Cons of EHRs

EHRs Pros	Rationale
Improve the quality of care delivered.	EHRs provide a system for collecting and storing accurate patient health information. The systems also provide an organized method for keeping medical records, making them easily accessible and sharable as needed. This supports the provision of care services that are timely and accurate. EHRs, due to their interoperability with other health information systems and support for information access and sharing, support the implementation of evidence-based practice (Dobrow et al., 2019). All of these factors are essential in the delivery of quality health care.
Improve efficiency in care operations for providers and patients.	EHRs allow care team members, including physicians, social workers, and patients, to collaborate easily, even when various barriers exist (Vos et al., 2020). The systems allow physicians and health professionals to easily upload, file, download, access, and share health information in real-time or as needed. The systems also provide portals that allow patients to access their health records conveniently without being physically available at the hospitals.
Highly scalable and customizable	EHR software is designed to be scalable to fit the size of its application. Healthcare organizations, big or small, can use EHRs to meet the size of the patients or populations they serve. The systems also allow scaling up to meet the growing needs of the organizations. Besides scalability, EHRs can be tailored to meet each organization’s needs or based on each department’s needs. The scalability and customization of the EHR systems mean that the organization can meet its current and future health information needs without needing new systems.
EHR Cons	Rationale
Increased concerns over privacy and security issues.	Digital systems such as EHRs are prone to cybersecurity threats. This means that adopting EHR systems opens the organization to cyber threats such as hacking and ransomware attacks, which may compromise the privacy and security of data held. There is also a risk of breaking hospital operations if such data breaches occur.
Potential liability concerns due to security breaches or malpractices	Healthcare organizations that adopt EHR systems must meet the set laws and regulations that guide the implementation and use of EHRs in healthcare. Healthcare organizations must protect information privacy to avoid potential Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) liability (Shachar, 2022). Adopting the systems means that healthcare organizations are entirely liable for the medical information they collect and store. Misusing medical record records, such as sharing them with unauthorized parties or not ensuring the security and privacy of the stored patient medical information, is a potential risk for related liabilities.
Require continuous updating to avoid data inaccuracies.	As earlier noted, EHRs enable different users to access health and medical records simultaneously. This means that the information stored within the EHRs must be updated immediately after it is collected to ensure that the systems are up to date. Suppose there are delays in updating the system from one point of information when new information has been developed, such as diagnosis or test results from the lab or a physician’s prescription. In that case, other EHR system users will access inaccurate information. Such information inaccuracies would risk medical errors such as wrong prescriptions or errors in disease diagnosis (Tariq et al., 2018).

Stage 3 Objectives for Meaningful Use and Their Impact on APN Roles

Two Stage 3 objectives for meaningful use that have an impact on me as an APN in clinical practice are the need for eligible professionals to provide summaries of care visits to patients or their authorized representatives based on communication methods preferred by the patient, such as emails, regular mail, or via EHR patient portals. The other objective focuses on sharing care summaries among eligible healthcare professionals and organizations. Qualified healthcare professionals and organizations should provide medical summaries during the transition of care. Transitions of care as per the objective include moving the patient from one level of care setting to another, such as from one ward to another, one hospital to another, from hospital to home care or consultation care, or from emergency care to ward. These two objectives focus on coordinating patient care and improving patient engagement in care plans.

As an APN, I am responsible for ensuring that patients understand the information shared about their health status or the outcomes of care provided to them. The first objective guides how, as an APN, I am expected to interpret health information to the patients and ensure they are fully engaged throughout the treatment and recovery. Increased patient knowledge of their health condition has been linked to adherence to elements of care plans such as medication with improved patient outcomes (Han et al., 2019). Sharing patient information during the transition of care will also improve how my care team cooperates and coordinates. This coordination during the transition could lead to positive outcomes or reduced instances of patient readmission if the transition were from hospital-based care to home-based care.

References

Dobrow, M. J., Bytautas, J. P., Tharmalingam, S., & Hagens, S. (2019). Interoperable Electronic Health Records and Health Information Exchanges: Systematic Review. JMIR Med Inform 2019;7(2):E12607 Https://Medinform.Jmir.Org/2019/2/E12607, 7(2), e12607. https://doi.org/10.2196/12607

Han, H. R., Gleason, K. T., Sun, C. A., Miller, H. N., Kang, S. J., Chow, S., Anderson, R., Nagy, P., & Bauer, T. (2019). Using Patient Portals to Improve Patient Outcomes: Systematic Review. JMIR Hum Factors 2019;6(4):E15038 Https://Humanfactors.Jmir.Org/2019/4/E15038, 6(4), e15038. https://doi.org/10.2196/15038

Shachar, C. (2022). HIPAA, Privacy, and Reproductive Rights in a Post-Roe Era. JAMA, 328(5), 417–418. https://doi.org/10.1001/JAMA.2022.12510

Tariq, R. A., Vashisht, R., Sinha, A., & Scherbak, Y. (2018). Medication Dispensing Errors and Prevention. StatPearls. http://europepmc.org/books/NBK519065

Vos, J. F. J., Boonstra, A., Kooistra, A., Seelen, M., & van Offenbeek, M. (2020). The influence of electronic health record use on collaboration among medical specialties. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1186/S12913-020-05542-6/TABLES/2

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EHRs Benefits and Drawbacks

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EHRs Benefits and Drawbacks