Complete 11 page APA formatted essay: How Electronic Medical Record could help to make decisions for patient.Download file to see previous pages... When properly utilized, Carter noted that EMRs help

Complete 11 page APA formatted essay: How Electronic Medical Record could help to make decisions for patient.

When properly utilized, Carter noted that EMRs help reduces medical errors. by storing important patient data such as drug doses administered, allergies, resistance and others. They eliminate the need for physicians to write order by hand in patients’ charts. Further, EMRs reduce the cost of healthcare provision. Some experts estimate that up to $5 is lost every time a doctor, nurse or any other member of the medical fraternity touches a chart. However, the EMRs eliminate or significantly reduce the need for chart.Since the computerized format used in EMRs utilizes printed text rather than physician crafted charts, it eases communication problems that undermine handwritten text that can be illegible sometimes. The system also minimizes spelling and contextual errors and validity in case of drugs, thus minimizing data entry errors. The EMRs system also eases workflow for healthcare providers and enables the prompt provision of specialized services such as surgery. While utilizing the EMRs system, government and other public health stakeholders like epidemiologists, social workers and others can protect and promote public health through surveillance, prevention and intervention especially in cases of contagious and communicable diseases. EMRs also help healthcare practitioners keep track of patients’ progress.This is so because the EMRs system can be programmed to detect abnormal laboratory results, prescriptions, and drug administration, thus helping experts intervene in time to prevent deterioration....

The EMRs system also eases workflow for healthcare providers and enables the prompt provision of specialized services such as surgery. While utilizing the EMRs system, government and other public health stake holders like epidemiologists, social workers and others can protect and promote public health through surveillance, prevention and intervention especially in cases of contagious and communicable diseases. EMRs also help healthcare practitioners keep track of patients’ progress (Carter, 2001). This is so because the EMRs system can be programmed to detect abnormal laboratory results, prescriptions, and drug administration, thus helping experts intervene in time to prevent deterioration. Through computer networking, EMR systems can be accessed by multiple users, further data updates can be made in real time and backups can be stored in easily accessible ports through cloud computing (Niles, 2011). For cash-strapped patients and physicians, this facility would especially be useful in providing or accessing medical services especially for patients with chronic conditions. Where EMRs or ICT has only been utilized partially, some benefits have been observed. To begin with, where the quality of EMRs services are good, patient management is improved. This includes timely intervention where the patient seems to deteriorate, develop resistance, or needs further laboratory tests and further hospitalization or expensive procedures are avoided. Speedy storage and retrieval of patient data due to the ease of storage eliminates unnecessary costs like repeating diagnostic tests and lost data can erode the patient’s confidence in the physician (Carter, 2001).