Enhancing Patient Safety and Quality – The Role of EHR Improvements and APNs in Healthcare

Enhancing Patient Safety and Quality – The Role of EHR Improvements and APNs in Healthcare

Enhancing EHR Usability

EHR usability is essential to patient safety and quality of care. This includes designing easy-to-use interfaces that are less likely to create errors (Nijor et al., 2022). Having similar templates and processes will help reduce inconsistencies in the documentation process. Additional training can be provided to healthcare providers on the use of EHR to reduce the rates of errors and improve the quality of patient care.

Implementing Clinical Decision Support Systems

Adopting CDS within EHRs can greatly improve patient safety. CDSS can send alerts for the actual risk of medication errors, drug allergies, and drug interactions. It also prevents errors and provides evidence-based clinical documentation to make the best decisions for patients.

Ensuring Data Accuracy and Interoperability

Timely and meaningful information is critical for quality patient-centered care. Data validation and regular audits can also help to eliminate the problem of inaccurate information within the EHR, as indicated by Lewis et al. (2023). In addition, promoting the interoperability of various EHR systems facilitates data sharing between health systems to make it available to providers at all times.

Role of the APN in Quality and Patient Safety Initiatives

It is vital to note that APNs have a critical role in quality and patient safety. Their extensive clinical experience and the focus on patients allow them to effectively recognize and manage safety threats. Bakerjian (2022) indicates that APNs are in a strategic position to facilitate interdisciplinary teams in undertaking quality improvement initiatives and instituting best practices and evidence-based care. They are also teachers and coaches of safety and continuous improvement.

Utilization of Data in Quality and Patient Safety Initiatives

Patient Outcome Data

Providers are also crucial in sharing patient outcome data that can be used to make decisions on the efficacy of interventions and to determine ways to improve them (Galletta et al., 2022). Patient outcome trends—rates of readmissions and infection rates, among others—are useful in formulating strategies to improve patient care.

Process and Performance Metrics

Outcomes of healthcare process and performance, especially compliance with clinical guidelines and completion of care tasks promptly, are key for measuring and improving processes in healthcare (Quentin et al., 2019). These metrics give the provider information on the effectiveness and efficiency of the care delivery to help identify potential problems that require process improvement.

Patient Feedback and Satisfaction Surveys

Satisfaction surveys are also good tools that provide detailed information about the patient experience and the quality of care given. Such data will reveal gaps and opportunities in the healthcare delivery process that enable providers to focus on being patient-centered.

References

Bakerjian, D. (2022). The advanced practice registered nurse leadership role in nursing homes. Nursing Clinics of North America, 57(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cnur.2022.02.011

Galletta, M., Piazza, M. F., Meloni, S. L., Chessa, E., Piras, I., Arnetz, J. E., & D’Aloja, E. (2022). Patient involvement in shared decision-making: Do patients rate physicians and nurses differently? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(21). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114229

Lewis, A. L., Weiskopf, N. G., Abrams, Z. B., Foraker, R. E., Lai, A. M., Philip, & Gupta, A. (2023). Electronic health record data quality assessment and tools: A systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 30(10), 1730–1740. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocad120

Nijor, S., Rallis, G., Lad, N., & Gokcen, E. (2022). Patient safety issues from information overload in electronic medical records. Journal of Patient Safety, 18(6). https://doi.org/10.1097/pts.0000000000001002

Quentin, W., Partanen, V.-M., Brownwood, I., & Klazinga, N. (2019). Measuring healthcare quality. In www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies

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Module 5: Discussion
33 unread replies.33 replies.
Based on this week’s readings and the safety measures identified in the text, respond to the following:

What quality improvement measures would you suggest to enhance patient safety and quality within the EHR?

What role do you see the APN playing in Quality and Patient Safety initiatives?
Explain from a provider perspective what data you would utilize within quality and patient safety initiatives.