The Electronic Medical Record

Paper Summary:

This paper explains the technology of the electronic medical record and compares it to the electronic health record, which is a somewhat broader term. The paper discusses the issues leading to the implementation of the electronic medical record and then examines some potential nursing benefits and drawbacks to its use within health care.

From the Paper:

"Another major and unfortunate topic of dissent is that records are unaccessible when computer systems "go down unexpectedly" (Kossman, 2008, p. 73). Many nurses also state that
the time spent on computers in the EMR system distances them from their patients (Kossman, 2008, p.74) Moreover, Robles explains that increased technology of the EMR causes some nurses to become reliant on machinery and fail to chart double-check values input by monitors, resulting in less critical thinking (2008, p. 33). One nurse in Kossman's survey states that the charts on the EMR don't even have all of the appropriate choices for documentation, and that "you get very lazy in your charting and documenting properly the way you see it...the patient may have not just staples, they may have retention sutures...but there's nothing in there for retention sutures...so do you think I'm going to say anything about them? Probably not." (2008, p. 74)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hebda, Toni, & Czar, Patricia. (2009). Handbook of informatics for nurses and healthcare professionals (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.
• Robles, J. (2009). The effect of the electronic medical record on nurses' work. Creative Nursing, 15(1), 31-35. Retrieved from CINAHL database April 20, 2009.
• Korst, Lisa M., Eusebio-Angeja, Alea C., Chamorro, Terry, & Gregory, Kimberly D. (2003). Nursing documentation time during implementation of an electronic medical record. Journal of Nursing Administration, 33(1), 24-30. Retrieved from CINAHL database on April 19, 2009.
• Kossman, Susan P., & Scheidenhelm Sandra L. (2008). Nurses' perceptions of the impact of electronic health records on work and patient outcomes. Computers, Informatics, and Nursing, 26(2), 69-77. Retrieved from Science Direct database on April 19, 2009.

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