Electronic Medical Records Essay Example for Free

Electronic Medical Records Essay Electronic Medical Records (EMR) are becoming more widely used across the healthcare spectrum. One of the reasons for their popularity is the potential that is presented for increasing the quality of care delivered to patients by decreasing handwriting interpretation errors, reducing medication administration errors and eliminating lost charts. Time management is a crucial skill to have as a nurse. It allows for a smooth workflow which translates into quality patient care. Much time can be wasted not only by the nurse signing off illegible handwritten orders, but also by the other nurses that have to help interpret the handwriting. The EMR requires the physician to enter orders electronically, thereby eliminating handwritten orders. Electronic orders are more precise and more accurately followed (Sokol, 2006). Fewer errors make it to the patient, reducing unnecessary tests and increasing the quality of care that patients are receiving. Electronic medication administration records (MAR) are useful in displaying medications due at specific times. Not only is it possible to sort the medications due at one time, the MAR will also alert the nurse to potential drug interactions. Late medications will be displayed in red to be easily seen. If bar coding is implemented, medication errors can be reduced by a range of 60%-97% (Hunter, 2011). A lost chart can be very frustrating while trying to deliver seamless care to a patient. Paper charts are easily misplaced. Since there is only one, if a single provider is using it, no one else of the medical team can view the chart. The EMR can be viewed from any computer with secure internet access or on a handheld device. When the internet is down, a downtime view only access is available. Nursing Involvement Nurses are known as patient advocates. In advocating for their patients, nurses strive for what is best in their patient’s care. Since nurses will be using the EMR most frequently, it is imperative that they are part of the selection and implementation on an EMR. A nurse, on the EMR team, will represent all nursing. Nurses will be accessing the EMR through their shift several times and will become familiar with the layout and workflow and will be able to provide insight into what would work best to ensure quality of care. There is a saying that you don’t know what you don’t know. A nurse knows what she will need and is the best to supply this information. While researching which EMR would be the best for a facility, a nurse can provide information on time saving workflows between systems. Nurses must also be trained as super users to provide a seamless change from paper charting to electronic charting and provide support to fellow nursing staff. A nurse on the EMR team will be able to deliver new information in a way that other nurses are more receptive to. Handheld Devices If nurses were to use handheld devices in delivery of patient care, there would be a noticeable savings of time as well as more accurate charting. Nursing personnel carrying a handheld device would have immediate access to their patients chart to notice new orders, lab results, or medication admission records. The need to review the paper chart repeatedly throughout the day would be eliminated along with the long search that commences every time you have to look for the paper chart. This could add several minutes to a nurse’s time at the bedside, improving patient satisfaction. When vital signs are taken, written on a slip of paper and then transcribed into the paper chart, there are many opportunities for error and delay. Numbers can be transposed, written incorrectly or the wrong patient’s information could go into a chart. With the immediate availability of a handheld device, the information from the vital signs monitor would have the ability to interface into the patient’s chart virtually eliminating late charting and errors. Security Standards The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was initiated in 1996 as a standard for protecting individually identifiable health information (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services). HIPAA requires that all information, either written or electronically, that falls under the criteria is protected from unauthorized viewers. An EMR carries more stringent HIPAA guidelines than a paper chart due to the risks associated with computer based files and there are a few key steps that must be taken to ensure compliance with this act. Access control: each user will have a unique user name and password that must not be shared. Firewall protection must be used on the internet server the hospital utilizes to prevent hackers from obtaining access to protected information. If users are authorized to access patient information from home, there must be a secure server used (Arevalo, 2007). Storage: Data must be encrypted to enhance the security while information is being stored and while it is transferred. Encryption entails protection of files and data that is only viewable to authorized users. Compliance of these regulations should be audited on a regular basis with any violation being swiftly remedied (Medical Records, 2013). Healthcare Costs Purchasing an EMR can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. In order to justify such a large purchase, one must examine the potential ways that money can be saved while using an EMR. After spending hours training users and with a little practice, nurse’s workflows will improve and less time will be wasted. A chart will not have to be searched for, double or triple charting is eliminated by using handheld devices for immediate charting. The quality assurance team will be able to run reports on compliance of core measures and be able to recommend changes to nursing personnel to implement. Fewer medication errors will be made by using the electronic MAR. Most importantly, these time and money saving factors will enhance patient safety. With fewer paper charts to store, valuable space can be remodeled into patient care areas that offer services not previously offered due to space issues (Power, 2013). This will increase revenue for the facility. Comparison Epic offers a computerized management system that is utilized by everyone in the healthcare setting including, nurses, nurse aids, physicians, dietary, radiology, emergency department and the business office. Each department will have a unique look and functionality to their program. There is no need to use multiple systems to gather information on a patient. It can be used in medium size ambulatory settings such as a clinic as well as in a hospital setting for either inpatients or outpatients. With all departments having access to the same information on a patient, errors will be reduced in delivery of patient care. The chance for entering erroneous lab results or miss- documentation will also be reduced with department specific workflows. Not only will this result in better patient care, but also in a nurse’s ability to delivery effective, efficient, quality care without delay. In addition, all physician order entry is electronic, every time. Order sets can be customized for each prescriber, saving time and hassle while maintaining meaningful use and following core measures. For added security, the system can be set to automatically sign a user out after a specified length of time of non-use. And while all of the patient’s information is available to each user, audit trails are left enhancing patient security. Epic has pre-loaded patient teaching materials available as well as the option to custom make information. After visit summaries are easily printed upon discharge and an electronic copy is permanently attached to the chart. Patient would benefit from a facility the uses the Epic system by having access to MyChart. MyChart is a portal of access between a patient and their provider for communication as well as a portable computerized health record. IF a patient were to access care from a facility that does not utilize the Epic system, that patient would have access to MyChart and would then be able to provide critical information that would enhance their care. Another computerized management system available is one from Cerner. This system can be used in all settings in a hospital including nursing. For medication administration, Cerner has available barcode identification of medication to help nursing staff complete their five rights verification prior to administration. It also allows charting at the bedside to enhance accuracy either through a handheld device or a stationary computer. All order entry by physicians is done on the computer allowing the providers to follow built in prompts for allergy information and adverse drug interactions as well as prompts that will aid in the order of care protocols to enhance patient care. Cerner also has a portal designed for patient to have access to their records no matter where they are as well as tracking information for health goals a patient and their provider have established. The portal allows progress tracking and provides information on steps that can be used to help the patient reach their goals. This gives patients more responsibility for their health while providing the incentive needed. Nursing care will be escalated similarly to the way it would be in Epic. Patient information is easily accessible through intuitive workflows allowing nursing staff to make responsible decisions regarding patient care. My recommendation for a computerized management system would be the one available from Cerner. It is the most user friendly for staff including nursing and offers intensive training and yearly upgrades. The different departments systems appear to work together seamlessly resulting in increased savings of time and money (Cerner, 2013).

Neaera the Great: An Explication of One Woman’s Movement to Power :: Creative Writing Essays

Preface Though we are discussing ancient times, this paper is not traditional academic work. The subject (and I mean that in more ways than one) of my focus is a woman named Neaera who is placed on trial for proclaiming herself and her children as citizens of Athens, even though she is widely viewed as a prostitute of foreign birth. My central contention throughout this discussion is that she is a woman of extraordinary courage and to an incredible degree, takes control over her circumstances and makes powerful choices. In tune with this description, I choose to write in a style that accurately reflects the reverence that I hold for Neaera. Rather than an analytical exchange of observation, I intentionally take the tone of someone who is much like a boxing promoter. I place myself firmly in Neaera’s corner and instead of articulating her greatness through the shadowy form of a third person who remains academically objective and unattached, I take a direct stand for he r as a praiseworthy historical figure. To this end, I write from the first person with the motive to reveal and uplift Neaera’s impressiveness and I adopt a general manner of speech atypical to academic language. Additionally, I use of myriad of persuasive methods that are relatively uncommon and I do so because, fundamentally, Neaera is an uncommon and atypical character. In light of this revelation, the least that I can do is to make sure that my form and content align as a means of writing a paper that is outside of the norm in order to honor a woman who consistently chose her own way. In other (more effective) words, Neaera rocks and I’m willing to rock out in order to make sure that she gets the props that she deserves. Neaera the Great: An Explication of One Woman’s Movement to Power Consider the possibility that how we listen to people creates the way life will be for them as well as for ourselves. Is this a radical statement? Perhaps. Many of us hold fast to the idea that we are the controllers of our own fate (myself included) and that, for instance, even if someone listened to us as if we were never going to amount to anything that would ever resemble success, we would eventually triumph in the end (especially against the odds stacked against us by would be detractors).

Global Food Crisis Essay

Food shortage is fast taking global catastrophic proportions. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon warns the world that it could trigger off crisis upon crisis if the problem is not acted upon and solved before it is too late. The food crisis did not just happen overnight. Global Warming has had a hand in it. Heavy rains and flooding in the rice fields of Asia greatly affected rice production, enough to cause a shortage. With the decrease in supply and an increase in demand for it, prices rose. Prices of other commodities as well as oil, fertilizer and energy required for food production were similarly affected. Gradual switch of energy sources from fossil fuels to bio fuels even with its concern for the environment is an adverse threat to food production. Faced with a food crisis should be a wake up call for everyone. For the fortunate few with food on their table, they must think of the hungry in the other parts of the world. They must not panic-buy knowing that others may go without a morsel of their horde. Artificial shortages give the sellers reason to jack up prices. The destructive effects of global warming may have been caused by our neglect and is now beyond our control. But an economic crisis that may be one of the domino effects of the food crisis may be avoided by our own doing. Hunger has always been in our midst, maybe not anywhere near the more affluent First World but in the African continent. Africa has wide, but dry barren lands that have not been used much for agriculture. Why suffer the pangs of hunger when the solution is right before us waiting to be tapped? We could develop the soil for agriculture. Science and Technology is a continuous discipline that stops at nothing in search of cures, solutions, means and methods to problems that face us everyday. Fund sourcing must be a global effort. We must all do our share to help feed the world and solve the current crisis. There is nothing we can not do for the world if we have the concern, the will and the action plan. Works Cited Engeler, Eliane. UN to set up Task Force to tackle Global Food Crisis. Bern, Switzerland; The Associated Press, 2008.

Academic Procrastination And Statistics Anxiety - 1394 Words

Introduction A critical review of Onwuegbuzie, A., J. (2004). â€Å"Academic procrastination and statistics anxiety†. Assessment Evaluation in Higher Education. 29 (1), 3-19; a quantitative statistical analysis that attempts to demonstrate varying degrees of procrastination in graduate students, the correlation between statics anxiety and how this type of anxiety effects the graduate student in accomplishing deliverables for a registered course. The research methodology in the article was designed around previously established theories in statistic anxiety with the intention to further examine the relationship of procrastination and statistic anxiety at the graduate level. This critical review examines the author’s procedures, findings,†¦show more content†¦The author has made numerous contributions in the field of education through research, presenting and supporting theories and methodologies quantified with statistics and analysis to support the subject matter. In the research article the author aims to research anxiety levels in graduate students and how it leads to procrastination. Based on the authors academic background and previously published works his knowledge is extent in both statistics anxiety and academic procrastination. The researcher Onwuegbuzie presented the research methods, the statistical results and qualitative analysis of the findings. He then stated assumptions on the participant’s actions and possible reasons for these actions. Onwuegbuzie then made further suggestions as to how educators can help to alleviate statistic anxiety. Onwuegbuzie findings determines that the graduate student’s results were similar to the norm group of undergraduates in a study by Solomon, LJ Rothblum, E. D. in 1984 on academic procrastination. In discussions Onwuegbuzie surmised thou results were similar with little variation the participants in his study being of a higher academic level could be effected by different reasons than that of the norm group. Research Method In the research quantitative and qualitative methods are applied. The author administered the Statistical Anxiety Rating Scale (SARS) to asses for statistics anxiety and the