Exploration of Regulations and Implications for Practice

Nursing informatics helps healthcare providers improve healthcare outcomes by utilizing communication technology (Haupeltshofer et al., 2020). Electronic Health Record (EHR) is the most common example of informatics that helps healthcare providers manage, store, and retrieve data. This technology resulted in lowering the workload burden and the slow process of writing down information by hand (Moy et al., 2023). This assessment will discuss the safety practices and issues of using EHR. 

Analyzing the Practice Example Using Informatics Model

Errors in medications are becoming a crucial issue for healthcare providers with the advancements. Due to this error, more than 7,000 to 9,000 patients die in the U.S. every year (Parthasarathi et al., 2021). However, many medication malfunctions are not even attended and they cause serious harm to patients. Medication errors involve errors in medication time, dose, and sometimes wrong medication to a patient. These errors can have adverse effects on patients who have different diseases and also cause allergic reactions to patients. Human mistakes, confusion over drug names or dosage, poor communication, and difficult-to-read handwriting are some issues that can cause medication errors (Gray et al., 2021). To avoid these adverse circumstances, it is important to enforce safety practices. The Informatics model helps to enforce safety practices in healthcare settings and prevents issues. 

Nursing Informatics Technology in Use

Technology Informatics Guiding Education (TIGER) is an informatics model to incorporate telehealth practices in improving patients’ health (Shaw et al., 2022). Collaboration of all healthcare providers is crucial in this model to work and reduce medication errors. Healthcare providers make efforts regularly to reduce patient hospitalization rates, stress, and treatment costs. One medication error can increase all these issues which is why they are important to address. EHR is the most widely used nursing informatics in healthcare institutes and organizations because it helps to keep patients’ huge data organized and safe. EHR also reduces poor communication and medication errors because it ensures that the information provided is error-free. It also allows healthcare providers to access their patient’s information and see if any mistake has been made. It reduces the chances of errors and ensures the accuracy of information for users.

Evidence of Analysis

Today, EHR is used by many healthcare organizations to enhance care quality. According to Upadhyay & Hu (2022), EHR improves the safety of patients by sending alerts to healthcare professionals in adverse situations. It also helps healthcare providers access patients’ records before attending to the patients and assist them when searching for side effects of particular drugs before administering them to the patients. Auditing EHR allows healthcare providers to quickly detect medication mistakes and enhance their understanding of treatment interventions. Adeniyi et al. (2024) showed that the positive results of EHR include increased efficiency and communication. The EHR has brought improved and faster organization and work processes to enhance patient and healthcare provider satisfaction.

Moreover, EHR systems have also helped healthcare providers reduce medication errors and enhance decision-making in healthcare facilities. EHR provides information on patients’ data which allows healthcare providers to make informed decisions that enhance patient safety and their treatment outcomes. Research by Gates et al. (2021) shows that hospitals that utilize EHRs have reduced medication errors because EHRs alert healthcare providers of any danger signals. Another benefit of EHRs includes effective communication among healthcare providers in improving patient care because all the latest information about patient treatments is readily available. With the advancement in the design of EHR systems and integration of different tools, EHR systems can also prevent risks and improve patient care quality using advanced informatics techniques.

Standards of Practice

Standards of practice help ensure that safety in healthcare is consistent and effective. They act as a set of guidelines or a checklist for healthcare workers to follow, ensuring that their practices are safe. The American Nurses Association (ANA) (2021) has created these standards to promote a safe and ethical environment in nursing. These standards include several key steps: first, nurses gather important data (assessment); then, they analyze this data (diagnosis); next, they predict the likely outcomes (outcomes identification); plan how to achieve these outcomes (planning); carry out the plan (implementation); and finally, monitor and evaluate the progress of the plan (evaluation). The Code of Ethics for nurses also sets out four important principles: autonomy (respecting patients’ decisions), beneficence (doing good for patients), justice (being fair), and nonmaleficence (avoiding harm). Nurses must understand these principles to ensure their practice is ethical and safe.

Impacts of Regulatory Constraints

Healthcare providers need to adhere to rules and policies at the national, facility, and the state level. AHRQ guidelines ensure the effective way of using Electronic Health Records (EHR). Research by Lindsay and Lytle (2022) states that nurses should also fully engage in training on EHR to minimize unnecessary complications and benefit patient health. Training in electronic health records is required to minimize workload and adhere to the practice standards for constructing a protocol for a secure network (Heponiemi et al., 2021). Another security measure includes the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) which safeguards patient information in EHR systems (Oakley, 2023). This data has to be secured through encryption, and password protection, and only a few individuals should have access to it. Confidentiality should be maintained to avoid cases of unethical use of patient information. The government and non-government organizations are trying to promote health informatics and guidelines for healthcare providers for the safety of patients.

Ethical and Legal Practices

Ethical and legal practices are crucial when using technology such as Electronic Health Records (EHR). This is because maintaining the patient’s confidentiality and security is of utmost importance. Any harm to it can cause a threat to patient’s sensitive data. Moreover, training of nurses is also important for handling new technology otherwise it can lead to ethical issues such as unauthorized third parties getting access to data or loss of data. That is why, a proper policy reform is needed to ensure the security of records in EHR. these systems need to have an audit function to protect against any changes or loss of data. So many legal challenges are attached to using EHR such as privacy breaches, data loss, or errors. For this reason, it is important to document all information accurately and update EHR when required. 

Transmission of Data and Information to Stakeholders

To utilize the effective use of technology, it is important to include stakeholders in the whole process. Stakeholders in the healthcare system are nurses, doctors, nursing informatics experts, IT managers, and the administration team of the hospital. Meetings and presentations can be used as effective tools of communication between all stakeholders to resolve issues and make better-informed decisions (Stratil et al., 2022). Using such technologies, healthcare providers can implement and design effective informatics techniques and improve patient care and health results. The IT manager will help maintain the security of patients and install the new informatics techniques. Moreover, the board members can make important decisions such as finances for installing the latest technologies (Erickson et al., 2020). Nurse informatics experts must develop guideline documents for the use of technologies such as EHR to ensure patient safety.

Besides the role of stakeholders in improving patient care, a feedback loop can also be used to enhance the work of new technologies. It means regularly reviewing the results that technologies make in delivering patient care. For instance, data from Electronic Health Records (EHRs) can be used to identify changes in patient care improvements (Adeniyi et al., 2024). Thus, healthcare providers who deal with patients and treatment interventions regularly can offer insights into how the use of such technologies influences their work process and interactions with the patients. They can contribute to developing a system that functions better and meets patients’ needs. Furthermore, the collaboration of nursing informatics specialists and other stakeholders also plays a major role in efficiently incorporating the technology. This is because healthcare providers help patients participate in training sessions to get hands-on training on the new features and updates to enhance patient safety and treatment quality (Rock, 2021). These advancements occur regularly and ensure that the technology provides improved treatment and patient care quality.

Conclusion

Nursing informatics allows healthcare providers to reduce the chances of medication errors and burnout. EHR allows healthcare providers to organize and maintain data smoothly and increases patient data safety. Other technologies such as TIGER allow healthcare providers to improve patient health results. It helps to protect patients’ ethical rights by incorporating the American Nurse Association’s (ANA) practice standards. Moreover, stakeholders play a crucial role in effectively incorporating new technologies and analyzing their cost-effectiveness, and effectiveness in treatment procedures. All healthcare providers can utilize the benefits of EHR by getting training on its use which helps in reducing healthcare risk and enhances patient care.

References

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