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The Impact of Electronic Health Records on Patient Care
Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have greatly impacted the health sector in regard to
changes in the way medical personnel store and retrieve information for use on their patients.
The adoption of EHRs greatly improves patient care, as they enhance the accuracy of data,
improve provider communication, and allow for better decision-making.
The accuracy and completeness of patient data have been largely influenced by the
implementation of EHRs. Digital records avoid all problems associated with illegible
handwriting, reduce transcription errors, and ensure that crucial information is correctly captured
and easily interpreted. For example, according to the study carried out by Menachemi and
Collum (2011), it was identified that EHRs had reduced medication errors compared to paper-
based systems. Moreover, EHRs keep a central repository of patient information about history,
allergies, current medications, etc. It is, therefore, centrally located where healthcare providers
can obtain complete and updated patient data at the point of care.
EHRs have also greatly improved communication and collaboration between different
healthcare providers, making them much more coordinated and effective. This way, digital
health records allow several healthcare professionals to access the same information on a patient
simultaneously and update it, therefore making it easier for information to be shared among
various departments and healthcare facilities. Improved communications reduce the probability
of repeated testing, conflicting treatments, and other inefficiencies that might result from
inadequate information exchange. A 2019 study by the Office of the National Coordinator for
Health Information Technology showed that 88% of physicians responded that EHRs
demonstrated clinical benefits for their practice; among the benefits was enhanced
communication.
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The adoption of Electronic Health Records has definitely brought about a change in
patient care for good. Ensuring data accuracy, facilitating communication among health
providers, and enabling more informed decision-making are among the key rationales that place
EHRs as an integral tool in modern health care. As technology advances further, there is huge
potential for EHRs to effect further changes toward improved patient outcomes and streamlining
healthcare delivery—that firmly cements their place as a cornerstone of effective and efficient
healthcare informatics.
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References
Menachemi, N., & Collum, T. (2020). Benefits and drawbacks of electronic health record
systems. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 4(4), 47–55.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3270933/
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). (2019).
Improved diagnostics & patient outcomes. Healthit.gov.
https://www.healthit.gov/topic/health-it-and-health-information-exchange-basics/
improved-diagnostics-patient-outcomes
