Read this passage and answer the questions that follow: Electronic Health Records In 2009, the HITECH Act was signed into law as a means of encouraging widespread use of electronic health records. This reflected the ongoing movement of industry and government into computerization of recordkeeping, and it transformed many hospitals and clinics into nearly paperless offices. One goal of electronic health records (EHRs) is to produce one seamless record for each patient that follows that patient around the health care system. Records might include vital signs, medical history,... Show more Read this passage and answer the questions that follow: Electronic Health Records In 2009, the HITECH Act was signed into law as a means of encouraging widespread use of electronic health records. This reflected the ongoing movement of industry and government into computerization of recordkeeping, and it transformed many hospitals and clinics into nearly paperless offices. One goal of electronic health records (EHRs) is to produce one seamless record for each patient that follows that patient around the health care system. Records might include vital signs, medical history, immunizations, blood work, symptoms, allergies, and so on. This information may then be shared among organizations, so that an elderly patient X who starts in surgery may have records sent easily to a rehabilitation facility and then to home health care and the patient's local pharmacy. This can ensure that everyone dealing with patient X is on the same page when it comes to his care, and it eliminates the need for multiple printouts or faxes. A well-constructed EHR system includes tools for clinical decision support (CDS), so that a physician may quickly search for specific information that applies to a given patient. Knowing that patient X is allergic to certain antibiotics, for example, the physician may easily access a list of alternatives that would be appropriate for post-surgical care. A third aspect of EHRs is the computerized physician order entry (CPOE). Through this system, physicians may transmit orders to the nursing staff, physical therapists, pharmacists, and so on. Estimates indicate that computerizing orders using standardized wording and abbreviations may reduce medication errors by as much as 80 percent. No system is foolproof, and EHRs may be costly and difficult to initiate. The information within the system is only as good as the people who enter it. However, all indications are that organizations with strong EHRs are more efficient and less accident-prone than those that still use paper. Show less
Read this passage and answer the questions that follow:
Electronic Health Records In 2009, the HITECH Act was signed into law as a means of encouraging widespread use of electronic health records. This reflected the ongoing movement of industry and government into computerization of recordkeeping, and it transformed many hospitals and clinics into nearly paperless offices. One goal of electronic health records (EHRs) is to produce one seamless record for each patient that follows that patient around the health care system. Records might include vital signs, medical history, immunizations, blood work, symptoms, allergies, and so on. This information may then be shared among organizations, so that an elderly patient X who starts in surgery may have records sent easily to a rehabilitation facility and then to home health care and the patient's local pharmacy. This can ensure that everyone dealing with patient X is on the same page when it comes to his care, and it eliminates the need for multiple printouts or faxes. A well-constructed EHR system includes tools for clinical decision support (CDS), so that a physician may quickly search for specific information that applies to a given patient. Knowing that patient X is allergic to certain antibiotics, for example, the physician may easily access a list of alternatives that would be appropriate for post-surgical care. A third aspect of EHRs is the computerized physician order entry (CPOE). Through this system, physicians may transmit orders to the nursing staff, physical therapists, pharmacists, and so on. Estimates indicate that computerizing orders using standardized wording and abbreviations may reduce medication errors by as much as 80 percent. No system is foolproof, and EHRs may be costly and difficult to initiate. The information within the system is only as good as the people who enter it. However, all indications are that organizations with strong EHRs are more efficient and less accident-prone than those that still use paper.
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