“Clinical informatics is a broad term that encompasses all medical and health specialties, including nursing, and addresses the ways information systems are used in the day-to-day operations of patient care” (Alexander, Firth, & Hoy, 2015, p. 7) . The use of clinical informatics in healthcare settings has allowed healthcare providers (HCP) to maintain patient records accurately, more efficiently and securely. Facilities that have patient encounters, whether direct or indirect, have network systems and programs that can access all patient records within that system.
This ease of access improves how efficiently HCP can use all pertinent information within a record to diagnose and treat each patient. An individual’s health information is …show more content…
Bush addressed the need for electronic health records in his State of the Union Address (Alexander, Firth, & Hoy, 2015, p. 200). In response to that address new laws came about affecting all of United States healthcare.
The Health Information Technology for Economics and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which was designed to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (health IT) was signed into law of February 17, 2009. The HITECH Act provides the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with the authority to establish programs to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care promoting health IT, including EHR systems and electronic health information exchange (Alexander, Firth, & Hoy, 2015, p. 200).
Clinical Informatics allows direct HCPs to document, review laboratory and radiology reports, administer medications with barcode scanner interfaces, document care plans, and in some instances use portable devices to improve the quality of the healthcare given to patients. With all this information at the fingertips of HCPs, the unintentional mistakes made with traditional paper charting have decreased. The new EHR systems require providers to enter orders directly into the system, thereby reducing dosage errors with medications, laboratory testing, radiology, and invasive
This ease of access improves how efficiently HCP can use all pertinent information within a record to diagnose and treat each patient. An individual’s health information is …show more content…
Bush addressed the need for electronic health records in his State of the Union Address (Alexander, Firth, & Hoy, 2015, p. 200). In response to that address new laws came about affecting all of United States healthcare.
The Health Information Technology for Economics and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which was designed to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (health IT) was signed into law of February 17, 2009. The HITECH Act provides the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with the authority to establish programs to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care promoting health IT, including EHR systems and electronic health information exchange (Alexander, Firth, & Hoy, 2015, p. 200).
Clinical Informatics allows direct HCPs to document, review laboratory and radiology reports, administer medications with barcode scanner interfaces, document care plans, and in some instances use portable devices to improve the quality of the healthcare given to patients. With all this information at the fingertips of HCPs, the unintentional mistakes made with traditional paper charting have decreased. The new EHR systems require providers to enter orders directly into the system, thereby reducing dosage errors with medications, laboratory testing, radiology, and invasive