Healthcare Information Technology Trends
Some might find this hard to believe, but a technology trend related to data use that I have observed, as a nurse in the PACU, is a transition from paper charting to the use of an EHR. Over the span of 7 years, 2 different hospitals (Chicago & Denver), I have part of implementing this conversion. One of the challenges was retaining the more experienced nurses who were advanced in their careers and opted for retirement instead of going from paper charting to electronic charting. A risk associated with this, not so new, trend of EMR usage is breaches of patient’s PHI on the part of users who are implementing this newly acquired skill of electronic charting. According to Androus (2021), drawbacks of EMRs confirm the feedback of the older / more experienced nurses; which include less patient interaction and increased virtual work. On the executive level, the cost associated EMR software is millions of dollars. And well after the system has gone live, there is still the potential for malfunctions.
The benefits of an EMR for data safety is legible and complete documentation, while the risk is that every piece of demographic information needed for identity theft is up for grabs based on the systems firewalls. In terms of legislation, the benefit implemented by the Affordable Care Act was a requirement that various EMRs need a common denominator to offer communication and share data between physician offices and hospital. A risk for the legislative aspect was insuring coordinated and efficient care amongst EMR servers that protected patient’s PHI. Providing accurate, up-to-date, and complete information about patients is the benefit for patient care. This is off set by the concept of value based care (HealthIT,gov, 2018).
In an article titled The Top 10 Emerging Trends in Health IT for 2021, cybersecurity was listed second only to IT evolution, which ironically makes a reference to cybersecurity. With that said, not only does this technology impact nursing practice, but all of health care. “Hackers stepped up their efforts to attack health care providers in 2020 to go beyond phishing attacks and stealing information to sell on the dark web. Ransomware attacks, especially during the second half of the year, shut down IT systems and slowed operations at hospitals and health care facilities across the U.S” (Drees and Dyrda 2021).
In terms of contributions to patient care improvements, efficiencies and data management have been addressed by curtailing email protocols. As more employees continue their remote access, a new term “data hygiene” has been coined. Workers are being called upon to prevent attacks and address vulnerabilities as the scope has changed from if an attack happens, to when an attack will happen. The hiring process has shifted from focusing on the clinical backgrounds of applicants to more qualified data scientists and It security professionals (Drees and Dyrda 2021).
References
Androus, A. B. (2021). What are some pros and cons of using electronic charting (EMR)? RegisteredNursing.org. https://www.registerednursing.org/articles/pros-cons-using-electronic-charting/.
Dyrda, J. D. and L. (2021). 10 emerging trends in health IT for 2021. Becker’s Hospital Review. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/10-emerging-trends-in-health-it-for-2021.html.
HealthIT.gov. (2018). What is an electronic health record (EHR)? Retrieved from
https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-electronic-health-record-ehr
Discussion: Healthcare Information Technology Trends
Throughout history, technological advancements have appeared for one purpose before finding applications elsewhere that lead to spikes in its usage and development. The internet, for example, was originally developed to share research before becoming a staple of work and entertainment. But technology—new and repurposed—will undoubtedly continue to be a driver of healthcare information. Informaticists often stay tuned to trends to monitor what the next new technology will be or how the next new idea for applying existing technology can benefit outcomes.
In this Discussion, you will reflect on your healthcare organization’s use of technology and offer a technology trend you observe in your environment.
To Prepare:
- Reflect on the Resources related to digital information tools and technologies.
- Consider your healthcare organization’s use of healthcare technologies to manage and distribute information.
- Reflect on current and potential future trends, such as use of social media and mobile applications/telehealth, Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled asset tracking, or expert systems/artificial intelligence, and how they may impact nursing practice and healthcare delivery.
By Day 3 of Week 6
Post a brief description of general healthcare technology trends, particularly related to data/information you have observed in use in your healthcare organization or nursing practice. Describe any potential challenges or risks that may be inherent in the technologies associated with these trends you described. Then, describe at least one potential benefit and one potential risk associated with data safety, legislation, and patient care for the technologies you described. Next, explain which healthcare technology trends you believe are most promising for impacting healthcare technology in nursing practice and explain why. Describe whether this promise will contribute to improvements in patient care outcomes, efficiencies, or data management. Be specific and provide examples.
By Day 6 of Week 6
Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days, offering additional/alternative ideas regarding opportunities and risks related to the observations shared.
I can relate to your post. We transitioned from exclusive paper charting to a hybrid model of paper charting and EHR utilization for medication administration while I was working at a psychiatric hospital. At least during my time there, there was no intention of transitioning to full electronic charting. While paper charting was time-consuming and sometimes difficult to read when trying to find information, there was less risk of hacking/ ransomware attacks. Additionally, large amounts of data can be transferred between hospital systems and physicians to improve continuity of care (Casola et al., 2016). However, IT security cannot time stamp access to paper charts to know if they are being accessed inappropriately. Nevins (2021) describes the new phenomenon of increased remote work as a distributed work environment that further increases cybersecurity risks. As you mentioned, data hygienists can help identify risks and security threats. According to Perham (2021), inaccurate, false, and duplicate data cost the United States upwards of $3 million dollars per year. With exponentially increasing healthcare costs, “data hygienists” can also be utilized to reduce errors and duplicates among data so costly testing, assessments, and evaluations are not duplicated needlessly.
References
Casola, V., Castilglione, A., Choo, K. R., & Esposito, C. (2016). Healthcare-related data in the cloud: Challenges and opportunities. IEEE Cloud Computing, 3(6), 10-14. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCC.2016.139
Nevins, M. (2021). New dangers of working from home: Cybersecurity risks. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/hillennevins/2021/05/19/new-dangers-of-working-from-home-cybersecurity-risks/?sh=27c3308622fb
Perham, G. (2021). Data hygiene: An introduction to processing your data. Accudata. https://www.accudata.com/blog/data-hygiene/
